STANFORD, Calif. – After playing six of its first eight conference games away from home, Stanford made a statement in its return to Maples Pavilion. Junior guard Lili Thompson poured in a season-high 27 points and No. 16 Stanford dominated No. 25 Washington, 69-53, on Friday night.
The Cardinal (16-5, 6-3 Pac-12) got back on track offensively against the Huskies (15-5, 6-3 Pac-12), scoring 40 in the first half and going 27-of-60 (45 percent) from the field. Head coach Tara VanDerveer's squad never trailed, and led by double digits from the 2:52 mark of the first quarter onward.
Playing her first game at Maples Pavilion in nearly three weeks, Thompson lit the Huskies up in the early going, pouring in 17 points in the first quarter as the Cardinal built a 26-13 advantage. Her 27 total points exceeded her output in her last three games combined (25), and was one off her career-high (28 vs. Texas on Nov. 20, 2014)
Sophomore Brittany McPhee helped Stanford consolidate its lead in the second period, scoring 10 of the team's 14 points. The Normandy Park, Washington native finished with 12 points and five rebounds.
Up 40-23 at halftime, the Cardinal kept its foot on the gas pedal in the third, using a strong quarter from Erica McCall to keep the game out of reach. After a relatively quiet first two quarters, McCall tallied 10 of Stanford's 12 points in the third to give her team an 18-point advantage heading into the final frame.
Karlie Samuelson's trey early in the fourth put Stanford up 61-39 -- its largest lead of the game -- as the team cruised to a 16-point victory. Samuelson finished with 10 points, and was one of four Cardinal players in double figures. Stanford is now 26-4 all-time against Washington at home, and has won 18 of the last 19 meetings against their conference foes.
National scoring leader Kelsey Plum topped the Huskies with 23 points, falling just short becoming the fastest player in Pac-12 history to reach 2,000 points.
TURNING POINT » Thanks to Thompson's prolific outside stroke, Stanford was all over the Huskies from the opening tip, jumping out to an 8-2 lead -- all points courtesy of the Texas-born sharpshooter. And after Washington pulled within four on Chantel Osahor's lay-in with 3:45 to go, the Cardinal closed out the period on a 16-7 run. Thompson ended the period with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including 5-of-5 from beyond the arc, while also co-leading the team with three rebounds.
LILI THOMPSON » I think the first two (shots) really just came within our offense -- moving, moving the ball, making good cuts -- and after that my teammates were looking for me and making good passes, setting good screens. It was within the offense, but it was good to finally knock down some shots. I wasn't thinking about (the UCLA game) specifically, more so just thinking about the changes we needed to make from the past few games -- whether that's offensive execution, or taking care of the ball -- those were the takeaways we wanted to implement in this game.
PHENOMENAL FIRST » Keyed by Thompson's 17, the Cardinal posted its second-most first quarter points this season (26). The team hit 10 of its 15 shots -- eight of which were assisted -- including 6-of-7 from three, and out-rebounded the visitors 12 to four.
SEASON HIGHS » Freshman guard Marta Sniezek set a new career high with six assists, and forward Kaylee Johnson grabbed a season-best 14 rebounds. Johnson also matched her career high with four assists.
TARA VANDERVEER » I thought (Sniezek) was working the ball well. I think Marta does a great job of hitting the roller -- she got one to (McCall), she got one to (Johnson). She's a very heady player, she's a pass-first guard, but we need her to look for her shot.
BOARD BOUNCERS » Stanford dominated the visitors on the glass, corralling 49 total rebounds to Washington's 30. In addition the Johnson's 14, the Cardinal got seven from Thompson and five apiece from McCall and McPhee.
ERICA MCCALL » We knew they were going to attack the boards a lot, so we knew that, especially playing in a zone, we could get a lot of rebounds. As far as just boxing them out and going after it, I think we had a lot of good (offensive) boards, especially Kaylee Johnson. I think that energized us to do well on offense as well.
GETTING DEFENSIVE » Four blocks from Johnson helped the Cardinal stymie the Huskies' attack, holding an opponent to under 30 percent shooting for the seventh time this season. The last time limited a team to a sub-30 percent clip was Jan. 2 at Arizona (20.8).
TARA VANDERVEER II » I thought we played really well defensively. They're a very explosive offensive team, and I think our team really focused.