STANFORD, Calif. – Ten different players scored, Stanford hit another 13 3-pointers, and the Cardinal was an 89-58 winner over Gonzaga in the first game played on Tara VanDerveer Court on Sunday afternoon.
The recently retired, NCAA’s all-time winningest coach was honored in a pregame ceremony in which a pair of on-court logos featuring her handwriting were unveiled. VanDerveer’s teams won 531 games on the floor that will forever carry her name.
Stanford’s current squad honored their former coach with yet another outstanding performance in the season’s early going. The Cardinal (3-0) started the game on a 10-0 run, finished the quarter on a 14-0 run and led 26-4 after one. Gonzaga would only get as close as 19 the rest of the way, as Stanford’s defense limited Bulldog All-America candidate Yvonne Ejim to 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
The Cardinal continued their torrid start to the season from deep, hitting 13-of-24 (.542) and getting makes from six different players. Through the first three games, Stanford is shooting 57.5 percent on 3-pointers (45-of-78) and has made a school-record 18, 14 and 13 in its three wins.
Nunu Agara led the way with game highs of 16 points and nine rebounds and was joined in double figures by Elena Bosgana (12), Jzaniya Harriel (12) and Chloe Clardy (11). Harriel was 4-of-6 on her 3-pointers and Clardy was 3-of-5. Harriel is shooting 68.8 percent from downtown this season (11-of-16) and Clardy is 7-10 (.700) a season after she was just 2-of-20.
Even sophomore transfer Mary Ashley Stevenson got in on the act, knocking down her first career triple midway through the fourth quarter as part of a nine-point effort.
Stanford had 10 steals for the second consecutive game and 19 assists against just five turnovers. On the year, the Cardinal has 60 assists and 20 turnovers.
The Cardinal is back in action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts UC Davis on ACC Network Extra.