Battle Across the BayBattle Across the Bay
John P. Lozano/isiphotos.com
Women's Basketball

Battle Across the Bay

No. 8 Stanford (17-2, 7-1)
at California (13-6, 4-4)
Thursday, Jan. 31 • 8 p.m. PT
Haas Pavilion • Berkeley, Calif.
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Audio •GoStanford.com
Live Statistics • CalBears.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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THE GAME: Off to its best start in five seasons, No. 8 Stanford (17-2, 7-1) heads to Berkeley to play at Cal (13-6, 4-4) on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. Kate Scott and Mary Murphy have the call on Pac-12 Networks and Kevin Danna will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com.
 
THE RUNDOWN: At 17-2, Stanford is off to its best start since 2013-14 (22-1) ... Tara VanDerveer collected her 900th win at Stanford on Jan. 20 against Washington State ... Alanna Smith is the only player in the country shooting better than 48 percent both from the floor and from deep ... DiJonai Carrington's 33-point, 13-rebound, four 3-pointer effort against Tennessee was the second for a player in the past 20 years against a ranked opponent ... Stanford is one of three schools in the nation with a pair of top-10 wins ... The Cardinal is 18th in the country in scoring offense (80.1) and 19th in field goal percentage (.461) ... Stanford is 12th in the country in 3-point makes per game (9.7) and 20th in 3-point percentage (.374) ... Alanna Smith is the only player in the country averaging 21.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game ... DiJonai Carrington is averaging 15.5 points and 9.4 rebounds in the last 11 games, including four double-doubles ... Alanna Smith is averaging 23.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in the last 10, including six double-doubles ... Haley Jones, the nation's consensus No. 1 recruit, announced her commitment on Nov. 28, the first top player to sign with Stanford since Chiney Ogwumike in Nov. 2009 ... Stanford, which shot 67.0 percent from the line in its first 13 games, has made 83.5 percent of its free throws in the last six.
 
VS. CAL: Stanford is 69-20 all-time against Cal, 30-12 against the Bears in Berkeley and has won 19 of the last 22 in the series. Cal won in Haas Pavilion last season, 78-66, to end a six-game overall Stanford winning streak and a run of eight straight victories in Berkeley. Kiana Williams averaged 20 points in the two games last season and Alanna Smith 14 points and 8.5 rebounds. The two schools played the first intercollegiate women's basketball game on April 4, 1896 at a San Francisco armory on Page Street the day before Easter. Stanford won 2-1.
 
NEWS AND NOTES »

  • At 17-2, Stanford is off to its best 19-game start since it began the 2013-14 season 22-1.
  • The Cardinal had its 11-game winning streak snapped on Sunday at Utah. It was tied for the third-longest active streak in the nation.
  • Stanford entered conference play with a 10-1 record (.909), the first time in five years it suffered just one nonconference defeat.
  • The Cardinal's Nov. 18 home contest against Ohio State was canceled due to smoke from the devastating wildfires in Butte County that had compromised the air quality throughout the Bay Area.
  • Stanford is currently No. 8 in the AP Top 25 and No. 3 in the NCAA RPI.
  • Since 2007-08, the Cardinal owns a conference home record of 97-6 and a Pac-12 road record of 87-15.
  • Stanford's 184 conference wins since 2007-08 are the most in the nation (Green Bay/UConn - 183).
  • Stanford's all-time Pac-12 record is 507-76 and 150 wins clear of the next closest team (UW - 337).
  • The Cardinal was 14-of-14 at the line in Jan. 11's 72-65 win over No. 19 Arizona State, a program record for makes without a miss from the stripe. Stanford had previously gone 13-for-13 against Seattle on Feb. 29, 2012 and Cal on Feb. 11, 2005.
  • Stanford is a combined 66-79 (.835) on free throws in the last six games. Prior to that, the Cardinal was shooting 67.0 percent from the line (150-of-224).
  • Stanford leads the conference and is 15th in the country in blocks per game (5.37).
  • Tara VanDerveer won her 900th game as head coach at Stanford on Jan. 20 against Washington State to become the fifth DI coach, women's or men's, with that many at a single school (Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim).

 
HOME COOKIN' »

  • Stanford is in the midst of an 20-game winning streak in Maples Pavilion, the seventh-longest active stretch in the country and the program's longest since it went 28 straight from Jan. 18, 2013 until an 87-81 overtime loss to No. 10 Texas on Nov. 20, 2014.
  • Last season, the Cardinal was the only Pac-12 team undefeated at home in conference (9-0).
  • Stanford has won 16 consecutive Pac-12 home games.
  • Stanford's last home loss was to No. 7 Tennessee on Dec. 21, 2017 (83-71) and its last conference loss at home was to No. 15 UCLA on Feb. 6, 2017 (85-76).
  • The Cardinal has won 23 in a row at home over unranked Pac-12 teams. Its last such loss was Feb. 22, 2015, when it was beaten by Cal, 63-53.

 
INJURY BUG »

  • A number of players have missed significant stretches of time for Stanford.
  • Junior Nadia Fingall, who had started each of the Cardinal's first 12 games and averaged 8.0 points and 4.9 rebounds, will miss the remainder of the season after tearing the ACL in her left knee in a game against USC on Jan. 4
  • Senior Marta Sniezek has yet to play this year after undergoing offseason ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) surgery on her right hand/thumb. She started 32 games last season.
  • Freshman Lexie Hull returned in Stanford's Jan. 6 win over UCLA after missing the previous nine games with a left foot injury. She had started the first three games of the year.
  • Sophomore Maya Dodson, arguably one of the conference's most improved players, has missed the last eight games with a left foot injury.

 
RECORDS SET ON ROCKY TOP »

  • On the 30th anniversary of the first meeting in their storied rivalry, Stanford went on the road and beat then-No. 9 Tennessee in Knoxville, 95-85, on Dec. 18.
  • In the first top-10 matchup between the schools since 2013, the Cardinal collected its third win against the Lady Vols in Thompson-Boling Arena. Its previous road victories in Knoxville came on Dec. 22, 2012 (73-60) and Dec. 15, 1996 (82-65).
  • Stanford shot 14-of-24 (.583) from 3-point range, an opponent record for Thompson-Boling Arena and a record-tying number of makes from deep against the Lady Vols all-time.
  • The Cardinal's 95 points were the most against Tennessee in Knoxville in 13 seasons and just two shy of the opponent record in Thompson-Boling Arena. Texas beat the Lady Vols 97-78 on Dec. 9, 1987.
  • Stanford shot 55 percent overall (33-of-60) to score its 95 points, a program record for scoring on the road against a top-10 team.
  • DiJonai Carrington led five Cardinal in double figures with a career-high 33 points and 13-rebounds for her third career double-double. Carrington was 11-of-15 (.733) from the floor and 4-of-5 (.800) from deep and became just the second player in the last 20 years to have 33 points, 13 rebounds and four made 3-pointers against a ranked opponent. Missouri's Evan Unrau had 40/15/4 against No. 8 Kansas State on Feb. 22, 2014, a game that went into double-overtime.

 
RESUME BUILDERS »

  • Coupled with a Dec. 15 68-63 home victory over then-No. 3 Baylor, Stanford beat a pair of top-10 teams in the span of four days, something it last did eight years ago when it beat No. 4 Xavier, 89-52, on Dec. 28, 2010 and No. 1 UConn, 71-59, on Dec. 30, 2010 to end the Huskies' then-record 90-game winning streak. Both of those victories were at home.
  • Stanford, Notre Dame and Michigan State are the only schools in the nation with a pair of top-10 wins.
  • The win against the Lady Bears was the Cardinal's first in the regular season against a top-five team since it ended No. 1 UConn's 47-game winning streak in overtime, 88-86, on Nov. 17, 2014.
  • Stanford is now 9-1 in its last 10 home game against top-five opponents.
  • The 6-foot-5 Shannon Coffee set season highs with nine points and 19 minutes and made three of her four 3-point attempts against Baylor. The senior has made 12 from deep in her career and seven have come against Baylor. She was 4-of-8 last season in an 81-57 loss in Waco.
  • Coupled with Alanna Smith's 5-of-9 effort from behind the arc, the Cardinal's two tallest players were a combined 8-of-13 (.615) from distance.
  • Baylor, which entered the game leading the nation in field goal percentage (.557), shot just 34.9 percent (22-of-63) against the Cardinal, its lowest since losing 88-69 to Notre Dame in the Elite Eight on March 31, 2014 (.338).
  • Kalani Brown (16.4 ppg) and Lauren Cox (12.3 ppg), who came in averaging nearly 30 combined points per game, together went for just seven points on just 3-of-11 shooting (.273). Brown came into the day leading the NCAA's active players in field goal percentage (.648) made only two of her seven attempts from the floor, the third-lowest percentage of her career when attempting at least five shots.

 
MARKED OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT »

  • The Cardinal is 18th in the country in scoring offense (80.1) and 20th in scoring margin (+17.3).
  • Stanford hasn't averaged more than 75.0 points per game since 2013-14 and has averaged 68.7 (2017-18), 68.8 (2015-16) and 69.3 (2014-15) in three of the last four years. Those are three of the five lowest scoring offenses for a Tara VanDerveer team at Stanford, behind 1985-86 (66.6) and 1986-87 (67.8).
  • Stanford is 19th nationally in field goal percentage (.461) and 18th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.26).
  • Those categories are just a couple of many where the Cardinal has seen a marked improvement year-over-year. Last season, Stanford was 87th in field goal percentage (.424) and 126th in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.93).

 
SHARP SHOOTERS »

  • Stanford is 12th in the country, averaging 9.7 3-point makes per game and 20th in 3-point percentage, making 37.4 percent.
  • Stanford's 16 3-pointers on Nov. 11 against Idaho tied a program single-game record also achieved at UCLA on Feb. 24, 2002 and at Washington on Feb. 24, 2001.
  • Entering the season, Stanford had made 14 3-pointers in a game 16 times in 1,389 games (1.2 percent). This year's Cardinal has already done it three times in 19 games against Idaho (16), San Francisco (15) and Tennessee (14).
  • The Cardinal made 31.9 percent of its attempts from behind the arc last season, the second-worst percentage in program history. Stanford also was a program-low 42.4 percent from the floor overall in 2017-18.
  • Stanford won that game against Idaho 115-71, its fifth-highest point total ever and most since tying a school record with 122 against Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 10, 1994.

 
FROM DOWN UNDER »

  • Alanna Smith is on every major watch list, including the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy, John R. Wooden Award, Katrina McClain Award and Senior CLASS Award.
  • A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week this season (Dec. 17 and Jan. 14) and the espnW and USBWA National Player of the Week from Dec. 17, Smith is shooting 55.0 percent from the field (148-of-269), 48.1 percent from behind the arc (52-of-108) and averaging a team-high 21.2 points per game to go with 8.3 rebounds.
  • She is the only player in the nation shooting better than 48 percent both overall and from deep.
  • Only five players have done that for an entire season over the past 20 years: Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (Maryland; 2015-16), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lews (Connecticut; 2012-13 and 2014-15), Tricia Liston (Duke; 2013-14), Emily London (Samford; 2010-11) and Nicole Bauman (Wisconsin; 2014-15).
  • Elena Delle Donne is the only player 6'4" and taller over the past two decades to shoot better than 40 percent from 3-point range when she made 41.3 percent as a freshman at Delaware in 2009-10 (NCAA minimum of two made 3-pointers per game).
  • Smith, who has double-doubles in six of her last 10 games, is the only player in the country averaging 21.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game this season.
  • Smith is averaging 23.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in the last 10 games.
  • Smith is third in the conference and 32nd in the country in field goal percentage, first in the Pac-12 and fifth in the country in 3-point percentage, third in the league and 12th nationally in scoring and first in the conference and 14th in the country in blocks per game.
  • She is 22nd in school history in scoring (1,406) and fifth in blocks (196).
  • Smith is within range of joining an elite company of players that have put together careers of 1,600 points, 150 made 3-pointers and 200 blocks. Since 1999-00, the only three to do that are Elena Delle Donne (3,039 points; 206 3-pointers; 273 blocks), Maya Moore (3,036 points; 311 3-pointers; 204 blocks) and Breanna Stewart (2,676 points; 152 3-pointers; 414 blocks).
  • At her current pace, Smith would reach those numbers by the end of the regular season (10 games).
  • The senior had 30 points, 13 rebounds five assists and three blocks in a 62-55 win at Buffalo on Dec. 21 to become just the fourth player since 2000 to put together a line of 30/13/5/3 in a true road game.
  • Jennie Simms had 41/13/6/3 for Old Dominion against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 4, 2017, Jerica Coley had 30/14/5/4 for FIU against South Florida on March 17, 2012 and Jessica Davenport had 34/16/6/3 for Ohio State against Iowa on Jan. 12, 2006.

 
WATCH WILLIAMS »

  • Kiana Williams is also on watch lists for the Naismith Trophy and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award.
  • The sophomore is second on the team in scoring (14.7 points per game) and four of her five 20-point games this season have come in conference.
  • Williams had her first career double-double with 21 points and 10 assists in the Jan. 6 win against UCLA. It was Stanford's first 20-point, 10-assist double-double since Jeanette Pohlen had 21 and 12 in a win over USC on Jan. 22, 2011.
  • It was also the Cardinal's first individual 10-assist effort since Marta Sniezek had that many in the 2016-17 season opener against Cal Poly on Nov. 11, 2016.
  • Williams is also averaging 5.0 assists per game, which is seventh in the conference. No Stanford player has averaged 4.5 assists in a season since Jeanette Pohlen in 2010-11 (4.8) and no one has averaged 5.0 since Nicole Powell in 2001-02 (6.3).

 
CARRINGTON CLUTCH »

  • DiJonai Carrington has pulled down 10 or more rebounds in six of the last 11 games and is averaging 15.5 points and 9.4 rebounds in those 11 with four double-doubles.
  • The junior has a pair of 30-point efforts against Tennessee (33) and UCLA (30) and Stanford is the only school in the nation that has multiple players with multiple 30-point games this season. Alanna Smith scored 30 at Hawaii on Nov. 25, 30 at Buffalo on Dec. 21 and 34 against Washington State on Jan. 20.

 
FOUR TO THE FARM »

  • Stanford bolstered an already strong recruiting class for next season with the addition of the nation's consensus No. 1 recruit, Haley Jones (Santa Cruz, Calif./Archbishop Mitty), who committed on Nov. 28.
  • Jones joined the earlier signings of top-50, five-star talents Fran Belibi (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit), Hannah Jump (Los Altos Hills, Calif./Pinewood School) and Ashten Prechtel (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon) in Stanford's class, which is ranked second nationally by espnW HoopGurlz.
  • Jones is the first No. 1 prospect to sign with Stanford since Chiney Ogwumike came to The Farm as the top player in the country in Nov. 2009.
  • Belibi, Jones and Prechtel are on the West Team for the 2019 McDonald's All American Game on March 27. Of Stanford's 24 McDonald's All-Americans all-time, nine will be on the team together next season.

 
SO INTERNATIONAL »

  • Alanna Smith, the program's first international student, became the sixth Stanford player to appear in a FIBA World Cup in helping Australia to a silver medal in late September. The senior was one of two Stanford players at the tournament in Tenerife, Spain along with alumna Nneka Ogwumike (United States) and was a late arrival to campus for the fall quarter. Classes started on September 24.
  • Brown and the USA Basketball U18 National Team won gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Mexico City in early August. The freshman averaged 7.5 points on 57.1 percent shooting, 2.8 assists and 2.3 rebounds in six games. She had her best performance in the semifinals against Colombia, going for a team-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including hitting three of her four 3-point attempts.
  • Jerome was the youngest player on Canada's Senior Women's National Team roster that participated in a four-game exhibition series in China and Japan from August 1-7.