TUCSON, Ariz. – Brittany McPhee scored 21, Alanna Smith added 16 and the No. 11 Cardinal rolled past Arizona in its Pac-12 opener on Saturday, 59-34, at the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
While the sophomore-freshman combination went 12-of-18 from the field, 7-of-11 from behind the arc and outscored Arizona (9-4, 0-1) by three points, the Cardinal's defense again came up big. Stanford (11-2, 1-0) limited the Wildcats to just 34 points on 20.8 percent shooting.
Stanford, winners of five straight, next heads north to face No. 17 Arizona State (10-3, 1-0) on Monday at 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT. Ann Schatz and Julianne Viani will have the call on Pac-12 Networks.
TURNING POINT » Stanford built a lead right from the start, scoring the game's first seven points a little over four minutes into the contest. Arizona trimmed its deficit to 11-3 when A'Shanti Coleman hit a jumper, but the Cardinal responded with a 9-3 run over the final two-plus minutes of the quarter to take a 20-8 lead after one.
McPHEE EXPLODES » Sophomore Brittany McPhee scored 14 of her season-high 21 points in the first half, going 5-of-6 from the floor and nailing both of her 3-point attempts. McPhee's performance, which helped the Cardinal secure a 44-20 edge in bench points, was the second-highest scoring output of her career. She was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week last February after pouring in 24 against Cal on Feb. 22.
UNDERCLASSMEN DELIVER » McPhee and freshman Alanna Smith combined to score 16 of Stanford's 19 points in the second quarter, helping the Cardinal to a 39-15 halftime advantage. At one point midway through the period, Smith scored eight straight for Stanford, nailing a pair of triples and capping the spurt with a layup off a feed from Kailee Johnson. Smith's 16 points were also her second-best career total, trailing the 22 she put up against Dayton at the Gulf Coast Showcase on Nov. 28. She has scored in double figures in three of her last four games.
LOCKDOWN DEFENSE » Stanford, which was held to 20 second-half points, won by a considerable margin because of its trademark lockdown defense. The Cardinal forced its fourth straight opponent to under 23 percent shooting, limiting Arizona to 11 makes on 53 attempts (.208). Before the Wildcats scored 12 fourth-quarter points, Stanford had gone eight straight periods without allowing its opponent to score at least 10. Both Arizona's point total and field goal percentage were program lows for a Pac-12 game. The 34 points allowed also tied a Stanford record for fewest allowed in a Pac-12 game, matching the same total from a 60-34 win against Washington State on Feb. 8, 2007.
LAST FIVE » In its last five games, Stanford is allowing just 39.6 points on 23.1 percent shooting (70-of-303). One game after holding Chattanooga to 30 points, the sixth-fewest for an opponent in program history, the Cardinal only surrendered 34 on Saturday, a total now tied for 10th in its record books. Stanford had never before held back-to-back opponents to less than 35 points. The Cardinal, which entered Saturday second in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.306), lowered that to 29.9 percent with its effort at Arizona.