STANFORD, Calif. – Briana Roberson led five players in double figures with 16 points, Marta Sniezek handed out 10 assists and No. 11 Stanford began its season with a comfortable 83-55 win over visiting Cal Poly on Friday night.
Roberson was nearly flawless from the floor, making six of her seven shots and 4-of-5 from deep to tally the fourth-highest scoring output of her career. Sniezek, a sophomore who ended last season with a 2.9 assist-to-turnover ratio in Stanford's last 15 games, continued to effectively direct traffic and reached double digits in assists for the second time in her young career.
Stanford was up just two, 25-23, midway through the second quarter after Cal Poly's Gabby Grupalo connected on a 3-pointer. Brittany McPhee made a nifty reverse layup on the next possession, then grabbed Hannah Gilbert's miss and went coast-to-coast for another two to spark a 20-4 Cardinal run.
The spurt, in which Stanford converted 9-of-15 from the field, lasted nearly eight minutes across the second and third quarters and included six points from McPhee, five from Kaylee Johnson, four from Erica McCall, three from Roberson and two from Karlie Samuelson.
Stanford's lead at the end of the run was 45-27 with 7:44 to go in the third and the Mustangs wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way.
McCall had 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and three blocks to move her career total to 140, 10 short of Joslyn Tinkle for fifth in program history. Johnson had 10 points, eight rebounds and a career-high tying four assists against zero turnovers. As a team, Stanford assisted on 21 of its 34 made baskets (.618).
Brittany McPhee had 10 points and Karlie Samuelson, who returned to practice this week after recovering from a preseason wrist injury, chipped in 10 and made two of her four 3-pointers.
Three Cardinal freshmen saw extended action late. Mikaela Brewer hit a pair from long range in the fourth quarter and DiJonai Carrington scored all five of her points in the fourth quarter. Nadia Fingall had six points, two rebounds and two blocks in eight second-half minutes.
Stanford won its 16th consecutive season opener and its 18th consecutive home opener with the victory. The win was also the 981st in Tara VanDerveer's storied career. She is 19 away from joining Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women's basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins.
The Cardinal now readies for a nationally-televised matchup on ESPN2 with No. 8 Texas on Monday, Nov. 14 at 5 p.m., a game that is part of ESPN's ninth annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. Stanford is 11-11 against top-10 opponents the last five seasons.
