THE GAME: After starting with five of its first seven ACC games on the road, Stanford returns home when it hosts No. 22 California on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. Tim Swartz, Mary Murphy and Naya Crittenden have the call on ACCNX, while Kevin Danna will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com and the Stanford Athletics app.
THE RUNDOWN: Stanford is fourth in the nation in 3-point percentage (.392) ... Nunu Agara is one of four underclassmen in the country averaging 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists (17.4/8.2/2.2) ... Only one ACC player has averaged 17/8/2 for a season over the past decade (Elizabeth Kitley; 2020-21) ... Agara has increased her scoring average by 12.0 points and her rebounding average by 5.3 boards from her freshman year ... Tess Heal is the only major conference guard in the country making more than 50 percent of her field goals (.526) and 3-pointers (.568) with a minimum of one 3-pointer made per game ... Against Florida State, Elena Bosgana became the second DI player this season with 21 points, 15 rebounds and six assists in a game (Yvonne Ejim; Gonzaga) ... Heading into 2024-25, Stanford was looking to replace 59.8 percent of its scoring and 54.4 percent of its rebounding ... The Cardinal’s leading returning scorer was Bosgana (6.7) and its leading returning rebounder was Demetre (3.6) ... Stanford’s young squad has just one returner that has averaged more than 20 minutes per game in her career (Talana Lepolo) ... Stanford’s 2025 recruiting class, featuring three five-star talents and two four-stars, is ranked No. 3 nationally by espnW HoopGurlz.
VS. CALIFORNIA: Stanford is 81-22 all-time against California and 38-8 against the Golden Bears on The Farm. The Cardinal has also won nine in a row in Maples, its last loss to Cal at home coming on Feb. 22, 2015, 63-53. Earlier this season, Cal snapped Stanford’s 12-game winning streak in the series with an 83-63 win in Berkeley. It was Stanford’s largest margin of defeat since a 96-65 loss in Berkeley on Feb. 9, 1982. The Cardinal’s 12-game winning streak was its longest since beating Cal 14 consecutive times from Jan. 30, 2002 through Jan. 6, 2007.
WHERE WE STAND »
- Stanford secured its first road win of the season at Wake Forest on Thursday night, 74-71. It was the Cardinal’s first win in the state of North Carolina since a 78-63 win at NC State on Dec. 3, 1994.
- The Cardinal is 9-1 at home this season, but 1-7 away from Maples Pavilion. Stanford was the third-to-last Power 4 program to secure a victory away from its home court this season (road or neutral). Rutgers and Houston are those remaining without road or neutral-site victories.
- This was the latest in a season Stanford had gone without a road win since 2000-01. That year, the Cardinal didn’t pick up its first true road win since beating California in Berkeley on Jan. 20, 63-56.
- Prior to heading east, Stanford snapped an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak with an 89-84 win over visiting Florida State on Jan. 9, the Cardinal’s first in the ACC.
- The three game losing streak (Ohio State, SMU, Clemson) was the Cardinal’s first within the same season since January 2001 against Arizona, Oregon State and Oregon. Stanford has not dropped four straight in a season since January and February 1987 against Oregon State, Oregon, USC and UCLA.
- Stanford is 3-7 in its last 10 games, shooing 40.8 percent from the floor, 35.2 percent from beyond the arc, and with 115 assists against 160 turnovers (0.72 A/TO ratio). In the team’s first eight games during the month of November, the Cardinal went 7-1, shot 50.5 percent overall, 44.0 percent from deep, and had 135 assists and 95 turnovers (1.42 A/TO ratio).
- The team’s 3-7 record in December and January is its worst 10-game stretch since the final 10 games of the 1986-87 season when closed 3-7.
- Stanford is currently 42nd in the NCAA NET rankings and among the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament field according to ESPN’s latest Bracketology.
- Stanford’s 10-8 record is the program’s worst 18-game start since beginning the 1998-99 season 9-9.
- Stanford’s 2-5 start in conference play is its worst since 1985-86, Tara VanDerveer’s first year on The Farm. In the season before the start of Pac-10 women’s basketball, the Cardinal would lose its first six Pac-West games en route to a 1-7 league mark.
- In home games, Stanford is scoring 83.3 points per game on 49.5 percent shooting, including 42.2 perfect from deep. In its seven road and neutral games away from Maples, the Cardinal is averaging 65.4 points on 39.6 percent shooting and 34.4 percent on 3-pointers.
- Stanford made a change to its starting lineup against Clemson, with freshman Shay Ijiwoye and sophomore Chloe Clardy earning their first career starts in the backcourt. Along with sophomore Nunu Agara in the front court, it was the first time Stanford had started three underclassmen since Feb. 7, 2020, when sophomores Lacie and Lexie Hull and freshman Ashten Prechtel joined senior Nadia Fingall and junior Kiana Williams in the first five in a game against UCLA.
- Those three have started each of the past five games. Stanford hasn’t started three underclassmen in six consecutive games since the end of the 2018-19 season when sophomore Kiana Williams, freshman Lacie Hull and sophomore Maya Dodson started the final nine alongside senior Alanna Smith and junior DiJonai Carrington.
IT’S BEEN AWHILE »
- This will be the first meeting between the two programs in which California has a better conference record than Stanford since No. 3 Cal was 20-2 overall and 11-0 in the Pac-10 and No. 6 Stanford was 19-4 overall and 10-1 in league when they met on Feb. 14, 2009 in Maples. Stanford won 58-41.
- Thursday will also be just the second time Cal and Stanford have played a game in which the Golden Bears were ranked in the AP poll and the Cardinal was not. On Nov. 26, 1982 Stanford lost at No. 20 Cal, 87-85.
- Stanford, which lost at Cal on Dec. 13, will attempt to avoid being swept by Cal in a season for the first time since 1985-86. That year, when the Cardinal was in the Pac-West and the Golden Bears were in the NorPac, Cal won 77-59 on Jan. 21 and 73-69 on Feb. 17.
WHAT’S BACK, WHAT’S NOT »
- Heading in 2024-25, Stanford was looking replace 59.8 percent of its scoring, 54.4 percent of its rebounding and 42.8 percent of its minutes played from a season ago.
- The Cardinal’s leading returning scorer was Elena Bosgana (6.7) and its leading returning rebounder was Brooke Demetre (3.6).
- The Cardinal’s young squad has seven underclassmen and just one returning player on the roster that has averaged more than 20 minutes per game in her career (Talana Lepolo). Lepolo has missed the last 12 games with a right knee injury.
HEAL IS UNREAL »
- Tess Heal had her breakout game at Stanford in Thursday’s win over Wake Forest, scoring a season-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-8 from deep.
- She scored all 24 of her points in the first three quarters and made her first six 3-pointers. Heal went on a personal 11-0 run in the first to push Stanford to a 19-9 lead after one.
- A career 31.5 percent 3-point shooter at Santa Clara, she is 21-of-37 this year (.568).
- Shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 56.8 percent on 3-pointers, Heal is the only major conference guard in the country making more than 50 percent both overall and from distance (minimum one 3-pointer made per game).
- Heal, along with Mary Ashley Stevenson, are just the second and third undergraduate transfers in program history. Brooke Smith played as a freshman at Duke in 2002-03 before transferring to Stanford.
DILIGENT DEVELOPMENT »
- One year after Kiki Iriafen was the country’s most improved player, Nunu Agara has taken a massive leap and is one of the NCAA’s most improved this season. After averaging 5.4 points and 2.9 rebounds as a freshman, she’s putting up 17.4 points (+12.0) and 8.2 rebounds (+5.3) per game as a sophomore.
- Since 1999-2000, Iriafen has the largest increases at Stanford, going from 6.7 points per game as a sophomore to 19.4 as a junior (+12.7) in 2023-24 and from 3.8 rebounds per game to 11.0 (+7.2).
- Eighth in the league in scoring and rebounding, Agara is one of four underclassmen in the country averaging 17/8/2. The others are sophomore Khamil Pierre at Vanderbilt (22.4 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 2.1 apg), sophomore Ashley Sofilkanich at Bucknell (18.6 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.4 apg) and sophomore Zanai Barnett-Gray at Navy (19.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.4 apg).
- In addition to Agara and Pierre, there are only three other major conference players averaging 17/8/2 this season in TCU’s Sedona Prince (18.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 2.3 apg), Wisconsin’s Serah Williams (18.7 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.7 apg) and UCLA’s Lauren Betts (20.0 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 2.4 apg).
- Only four other players in Stanford history have averaged 17/8/2 - Cameron Brink in 2023-24 (17.4 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.8 apg), Kiki Iriafen in 2023-24 (19.4 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 2.3 apg), Nicole Powell in both 2003-04 (20.2 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 4.1 apg) and 2002-03 (18.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.8 apg) and Val Whiting in 1991-92 (18.5 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 2.0 apg).
- Over the past 10 seasons, the only ACC player to average 17/8/2 for an entire season with Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley in 2020-21 (18.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 2.0 apg). Before that it hadn’t happened since Wake Forest’s Dearica Hamby in 2014-15 (20.1 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 2.4 apg).
- Agara is one of four ACC players in the league’s top 10 in both scoring and rebounding, along with Haley Cavinder (Miami), Khadija Faye (Pitt) and Makayla Timpson (Florida State).
- She has scored in double figures in 16 of 17 games this season, including four 20-point efforts, and has a double-double in four of Stanford’s last six games.
- Agara had career highs with 29 points and 13 rebounds in Stanford’s overtime loss at No. 5 LSU on Dec. 5 and shot 75.0 percent from the floor (12-of-16). According to Sports Reference, she is the fifth DI player since 2002-03 to have 29 points and 13 rebounds in a true road game against an AP top five opponent and the only one to do it on better than 60.0 percent shooting.
- 11/21/21: NaLyssa Smith (Baylor) at No. 3 Maryland (30 pts, 15 rebs, .560 fg%)
- 1/24/21: Elizabeth Kitley (Virginia Tech) at No. 2 NC State (30 pts, 13 rebs, .591 fg%)
- 12/22/13: Crystal Bradford (Central Michigan) at No. 4 Notre Dame (30 pts, 13 rebs, .429 fg%)
- 11/19/08: Alysha Clark (MTSU) at No. 2 Oklahoma (31 pts, 16 rebs, .444 fg%)
TREE-POINT PROFICIENCY »
- The Cardinal is fourth nationally in 3-point percentage, shooting 39.2 percent (152-of-388). That is all despite going only 31-of-120 (.258) across six games against UC Davis, Indiana, Cal Poly, LSU, Ohio State and NC State. In Stanford’s other 12 games, it has made more than 45 percent (121-of-267; .453).
- Stanford was incredible from 3-point range over the first three games of the season. One game after hitting a school-record 18 3-pointers in the opener against Le Moyne, the Cardinal went 14-of-20 (.700) in a win over Washington State and knocked down another 13 against Gonzaga on Nov. 10.
- Against Washington State and in available records dating to 2002-03, Stanford’s 3-point percentage (.700) was its best when attempting at least 20, eclipsing a 13-of-20 (.650) effort at Washington State on Jan. 2, 2004. The Cardinal became the 15th DI team to hit at least 70.0 percent on 20+ attempts over the last 23 seasons, and first since South Dakota went 19-of-27 (.704) in a win over Midland Lutheran on Nov. 7, 2022. A team hadn’t done it against a DI opponent since Valparaiso at Southern Illinois on Feb. 27, 2021. Valpo was 15-of-20 (.750).
BOSGANA’S BIG DAY »
- Elena Bosgana scored a career-high 26 points and didn’t miss from the floor to lead Stanford to an 84-54 win over visiting UC San Diego on Nov. 29.
- Bosgana poured in her 26 on a perfect 10-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-5 from deep, tying the school record for single-game field goal percentage (min. 10 attempts). Kim Kupferer was 11-of-11 from the floor in a game against Pacific on Jan. 24, 1981.
- The senior also had six rebounds, three assists and four steals in her 30 minutes. The only “blemish” in her otherwise perfect game was a missed free throw in the third quarter.
- According to Sports Reference, Bosgana is just the sixth DI player since 2002-03 to be perfect from the floor when attempting at least 10 total field goals and five 3-pointers and first since South Dakota State’s Tagyn Larson on Feb. 13, 2019 against Omaha (11-of-11, 5-of-5).
- She also became the fourth Stanford player to be perfect on 3-pointers with at least five attempts, joining Jennifer Azzi (7-of-7 vs. Eastern Michigan on Dec. 29, 1989), Joslyn Tinkle (5-of-5 vs. Michigan on March 26, 2013) and Lauren St. Clair (5-of-5 vs. UCLA on Feb. 3, 2000).
- Against Florida State on Jan. 9, Bosgana had her second consecutive double-double with 21 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, becoming just the second player in the country this season with those numbers in a game. Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim had 26 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists in a win over New Mexico on Nov. 24.
AP POLL »
- When Stanford was ranked No. 24 on Nov. 11, Kate Paye became the 16th person to both play on and be a head coach for an AP-ranked team at the same school (H/T Mel Greenberg).
- The Cardinal was picked seventh in the ACC preseason poll and was outside the preseason AP Top 25 for the first time since 1999-2000. Since appearing in its first rankings on Nov. 23, 1987, Stanford had appeared in the preseason Top 25 each season except one (1999-00).
- Prior to this year’s preseason poll released on Oct. 15, Stanford had been ranked in 123 consecutive AP polls since Jan. 29, 2018, which was the third-longest active streak in the country.
- The Cardinal is the second-most ranked team of all-time and has appeared in 646 of 876 all-time AP polls over 49 seasons (Tennessee - 785).
FIRST CLASS »
- Kate Paye’s first signing class as head coach includes three five-star talents and two four-stars according to espnW HoopGurlz, and four ranked in that publication’s top 100.
| Player | HoopGurlz Rank | Stars | Ht./Pos. |
| Hailee Swain | 9 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 5-11 • G |
| Lara Somfai | 16 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 6-4 • F |
| Alex Eschmeyer | 31 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 6-5 • F |
| Nora Ezike | 84 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 6-2 • F |
| Carly Amborn | -- | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 6-2 • G/F |
- The class began with Swain’s commitment in July 2022 and culminated with Somfai’s announcement the morning of Nov. 13. The group is rated No. 3 by espnW HoopGurlz.
- Stanford’s three five-star signees are second to LSU (4) and the program’s most since it had four in the Class of 2019 (Haley Jones, Ashten Prechtel, Fran Belibi, Hannah Jump). That group won a national championship as sophomores.