Nov. 1, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 2 Stanford women's basketball team made its competitive debut Sunday at Maples Pavilion, using its size and strength as well as its shooting touch to roll to a 107-49 exhibition victory over Vanguard University.
The Cardinal frontcourt, considered among the best in the nation, provided much of the team's effort as Jayne Appel, Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Kayla Pedersen and Joslyn Tinkle combined to score 44 points and grab 23 rebounds and shoot a collective 54.8 percent from the field.
Stanford shot 52.6 percent as a team in Sunday's victory, while also sinking 15 three-pointers, led by three apiece from Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, Jeanette Pohlen, Lindy La Rocque and Grace Mashore.
Ogwumike led all players with 20 points in the contest on 7-of-11 shooting while also grabbing four rebounds. Appel just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds and Pedersen scored 11 points to go with seven boards and three steals.
In the backcourt, Pohlen went 6-for-8 from the field, including a 3-for-5 mark from behind the arc, for a total of 15 points. The junior Wade Trophy preseason candidate also passed out seven assists. Melanie Murphy showed off a smooth touch both shooting and passing the ball, going 4-of-7 for nine points and passing out a game-high 12 assists. Gold-Onwude scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds in 18 minutes.
Sunday's game didn't see its first points until 2:20 had elapsed, at which point Ogwumike opened the scoring with a layup to give the home side a 2-0 lead. The teams had combined to go 0-for-7 with three turnovers to that point.
Ogwumike's bucket would wake up the Stanford offense, though, as it started a 20-4 Cardinal run that spanned the next 6:27. The sophomore from Cypress. Texas would go on to score 12 more points the rest of the half, bringing her total to 16 over the opening 20 minutes.
Gold-Onwude would add a pair of threes that boosted the lead to 31-11 before the teams settled into a back-and-forth sequence through the end of the half which saw Stanford up 49-27.
The second half would continue to be all Stanford, as Appel, Pedersen and Ogwumike dominated the paint for three straight layups that pushed the Cardinal's lead to 55-29 with 18:23 remaining.
The Cardinal would continue to rip the nylon as time ticked off, as La Rocque, who finished the day with 11 points, and Mashore, who finished with 10, each hit all three of their triples in the second half, with Mashore's third triple providing the final points of the contest.
The contest itself also served as a "welcome back" contest for point guard JJ Hones, who returned to the court for the first time since tearing her ACL last Nov. 23 against Rutgers. In nine minutes of action, Hones passed out a pair of assists and hit a triple, showing she's back and ready to go.
Tinkle and fellow freshman Mikaela Ruef saw action in a Stanford uniform for the first time, combining for seven points and eight rebounds.
Junior forward Ashley Cimino rounded out the Cardinal scoring with two points and four rebounds.
Stanford will take part in one final exhibition contest next Sunday at Maples Pavilion before opening the regular season in two weeks. The Cardinal will host UC San Diego on Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. in its final exhibition contest.