STANFORD, Calif. – Thanks to another Texas-sized game from the Lone Star State's Lili Thompson, No. 16 Stanford beat Washington State at Maples Pavilion on Sunday afternoon, 69-52.
A game after recording a season best in points (27), Thompson did herself three better against the Cougars (12-9, 3-7 Pac-12), setting a new career high with 30. The junior guard went 22-of-35 from the field in two wins this weekend, including 10-of-14 from 3-point land. On Sunday she helped the Cardinal (17-5, 7-3 Pac-12) stay perfect all-time against WSU (60-0).
Thompson took control in the second half, splashing a three to tie the game at 28, before hitting a jumper from the wing to give Stanford a lead (32-30) it would not relinquish. She closed the game with 24 points in the final 20 minutes, hitting nine of her 11 shots and going 5-of-5 from three. The Cougars whittled the advantage to six on Borislava Hristova's free throws with 3:48 left in the game, but the Cardinal scored the final 11 points of the game to win going away.
Erica McCall recorded her 12th double-double of the season, grabbing 14 rebounds to go with 11 points. Karlie Samuelson was also in double figures with 10 points and Kaylee Johnson finished with 19 rebounds, nearly missing out on her third career 20-board game.
Stanford, which recovered to shoot 45 percent for the game, could not find its stroke in the first quarter. Stanford's only basket of the period came courtesy of Thompson with 31 seconds remaining. That cut the Cougars' advantage to seven, and the Cardinal would have been in an even bigger hole if not for making 9-of-10 at the line.
Stanford remained calm and collected, going on an 8-0 run to start the second to regain the lead. Washington State used two triples from Mariah Cooks to go up two at halftime, 27-25.
TURNING POINT » Trailing 18-11 heading into the second quarter, the Cardinal made up ground on the Cougars quickly and took a 19-18 lead on Brittany McPhee's 3-pointer at the 6:23 mark. But Washington State, spurred by Hristova and Cooks, battled through a 3-of-11 shooting slump and regained control by the close of the half. Stanford, though, continued its resurgence out of the break, retaking the lead for good on Thompson's jumper 2:39 into the third. Fresh off her highest scoring output of the season against Washington, Thompson put in eight of her team's first 11 points coming out of halftime and 10 of its 20 points in the quarter.
LILI THOMPSON » You know that your teammates have confidence in you, and within our offense there are spots for me to get shots, whether it's coming off of a screen or having the ball in my hand. So I just want to slow down, take those good shots and not be too rushed.
SECOND-HALF COMPARISON » Lili Thompson scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-5 from deep in the second half. As a team, Washington State scored 25 points on 8-of-27 shooting, including 2-of-8 from behind the arc during the same period.
HOLDING HRISTOVA IN CHECK » Thanks to hawking defense from Thompson and others, Stanford was able to hold the usually-potent Borislava Hristova to nine points -- half of her season average -- on 3-of-13 shooting. Sunday marked just the third time the Bulgarian native has failed to score in double figures this season, and the first since Jan. 4. WSU connected on just eight of its 27 second half field goal attempts, and was limited to 25 points over the final 20 minutes.
TARA VANDERVEER » I think people worked really hard defensively. Lili guarded their number one scorer, and she held her to half of her average. Lili's giving us great effort at both ends of the floor, which is great.
GLASS CLEANER » Sophomore forward Kaylee Johnson topped her team in rebounds for the second straight contest, grabbing 19 on Sunday afternoon. Johnson, who entered the game against the Cougars averaging 5.9 boards per game, now has 10 or more rebounds in three of her team's last four outings and seven times this season. Stanford dominated Washington State on the glass, 46-26.
TARA VANDERVEER II » That's awesome that Kaylee is in there boarding. She's got a knack for going after that ball and she recognizes how important rebounding is.
KAYLEE JOHNSON » I'm not necessarily the best scorer on the team, so I like to get down and do the dirty work, whether it's rebounding or setting a screen for someone to get an open shot. I'm not really worried that 'I have to get this rebound,' but I know I need to go in there, battle every time and do what my team needs me to do.
GOOD FROM DEEP » The Cardinal exceeded its season average for made 3-point field goals for the second consecutive game, nailing eight shots from deep against Washington State. That included five from Thompson and a pair from Samuelson. Stanford is now shooting 35.3 percent beyond the arc this season (147-of-417).
