DALLAS – Stanford staged a furious comeback, cutting a 12-point deficit with less than two minutes remaining to a single point, but a go-ahead 3-point attempt from Nunu Agara was short and SMU held on to beat the Cardinal 67-63 in Dallas on Thursday night.
Stanford (8-5, 0-2) was down by as many as 18 midway through the third quarter and trailed 64-52 with 1:51 remaining in the fourth when Agara hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to nine. Shay Ijiwoye battled for a rebound at the defensive end after a Nya Robertson miss, outleted to Chloe Clardy and sprinted up the left side of the floor and drove to the hoop, laying in pass from Courtney Ogden in the right corner.
The Cardinal picked up full court and Ijiwoye knocked the ball out off Zanai Jones for one of her three steals. Elena Bosgana hit a 3-pointer from the top to pull Stanford within four, 64-60, with 59 seconds to go.
SMU (9-5, 1-1) would again turn it over facing Stanford’s full-court pressure and on the ensuing inbounds, Agara would sink a reverse layup through contact, make the free throw to get Stanford within one.
Jones made a layup for SMU and was fouled with 16 seconds to go but missed the layup. Stanford secured the rebound and called timeout to advance and drew up a play to free Agara for an open look with eight seconds left that hit off the front iron.
Agara finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Bosgana scored 20, her second career 20-point outing, and Ijiwoye matched career highs with six points and three steals in 16 minutes off the bench.
Stanford, which trailed the entire game, cut it to five early in the third quarter before SMU responded with a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to grow the lead to its largest, 50-32, with 4:35 on the clock in the third.
The Cardinal remains on the road to play at Clemson (9-5, 2-1) on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET on The CW.