PULLMAN, Wash. – The streak is alive. Six Cardinal scored in double figures, No. 15 Stanford erased an 11-point second-half deficit and dominated the Cougars in overtime to come away from Pullman with an 86-76 win over Washington State on Sunday afternoon.
The victory moved the Cardinal's unblemished record against WSU (10-5, 1-3 Pac-12) to 58-0 all-time, but it took a furious late-game charge from Stanford (12-4, 4-0 Pac-12) to force the extra period.
For the second consecutive game the Cardinal rode the moment of a late 3-pointer to a come-from-behind win. On Friday in Seattle it was Lili Thompson against the Huskies with 27 seconds left and it was Bonnie Samuelson's turn on Sunday. Down one with 11 seconds to go, the senior settled right behind the arc on the far wing and nailed her fifth 3-pointer of the game off a feed from Amber Orrange.
The triple put Stanford up 71-69 before Washington State's Lia Galdeira went coast-to-coast and finished high off glass -- WSU's only field goal in the last 6:45 of regulation -- to force overtime. But the momentum from erasing an 11-point deficit was in the Cardinal's corner.
It was all Stanford in overtime, as Orrange made a jumper, fed Kaylee Johnson for an uncontested layup and Lili Thompson drilled a 3-pointer to give the Cardinal an insurmountable advantage. Briana Roberson made all six of her free throws in the final 44 seconds and Stanford outscored WSU 15-5 in the extra frame to win its sixth straight.
Stanford trailed by double digits in the second half, but worked its way back even with some sharp shooting in the period, converting 54 percent. Down eight, 64-56, with 6:46 to go, Stanford reeled off 10 of the game's next 11 points. The final six of the run were scored by Bonnie Samuelson and when she calmly sank two free throws with 2:04 left, the Cardinal led for the first time since early in the first half, 66-65.
The Cardinal overcame its largest deficit of the season in charging back from down 11 with 13:24 left, besting its 10-point comeback against Connecticut on Nov. 17.
Orrange led Stanford's six in double figures with 19 to go with four rebounds and five assists. Samuelson scored 18 and hit 5-of-7 from deep, her second time this season with at least that many 3-point makes. Lili Thompson added 13 and Kaylee Johnson notched her third career double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Taylor Greenfield scored a season-high 11 and Roberson utilized a perfect 8-of-8 performance at the line to score 10.
Stanford trailed 33-28 at halftime in part because eight turnovers led to nine points for Washington State, while the Cardinal was unable to generate any offense off of just two Cougar miscues.
Tia Presley paced Washington State (10-5, 1-3) with 23 points. Galdeira had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Stanford, which now owns a 61-3 Pac-12 road record over the last seven-plus seasons, returns to The Farm on Friday, Jan. 16, hosting Arizona at 8 p.m. in a game televised on the Pac-12 Networks.