STANFORD, Calif. – Five players scored in double figures and Stanford started its season with a commanding 87-42 win over visiting UNC Greensboro on Monday night.
Among the double-digit scorers, three were part of the Cardinal’s vaunted freshman class in Lara Somfai (15), Alexandra Eschmeyer (13) and Hailee Swain (12). Chloe Clardy had 12 and Nunu Agara added 10. Every one of Stanford’s 13 players who suited up scored as the Cardinal won its eighth consecutive season opener.
Somfai scored the game’s first six points and Clardy punctuated Stanford’s 24-12 first quarter with a corner 3-pointer off an extra pass from Swain as the buzzer sounded.
The Cardinal used a 9-0 spurt early in the second to grab its first 20-point advantage, 33-13. Eschmeyer started it with a triple, Courtney Ogden used a pump fake to open a baseline drive, Somfai converted on the fast break, and Mary Ashley Stevenson ended it by beating everyone down the floor and finishing a wide-open layup off a feed from Talana Lepolo.
Stanford started the second half on an 10-0 run and Agara scored seven of her 10 in the third as the gap widened. The Cardinal made seven consecutive shots late in the fourth to close it out. Swain hit a midrange jumper, then Clardy grabbed a steal and went the length of the floor for two. It was Clardy again on the ensuing inbounds pass, nabbing a steal and feeding Shay Ijiwoye for the easy lay-in.
An Eschmeyer steal led to a driving layup for Swain, Harper Peterson nailed a wing jumper just inside the 3-point line and then Carly Amborn used an elevator screen set by Peterson and Nora Ezike to sink a triple from the top of the arc. The run ended when Clardy lost her defender driving left and finished off glass.
Stevenson grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, her fifth career game in double figures. Swain, Clardy and Lepolo each had four assists.
Stanford shot 56.9 percent from the floor (33-of-58), 46.7 percent on 3-pointers (7-of-15) and 87.5 percent at the line (14-of-16).
The Cardinal freshmen – Swain, Somfai, Eschmeyer, Ezike, Amborn – combined to score 44 of Stanford’s 87 points. Swain and Somfai were in the starting lineup along with Lepolo, Ogden and Agara. It was the first time the Cardinal started two freshmen in a season opener since November 17, 2000 at Saint Mary’s (Nicole Powell, Susan King).
Stanford returns to action when it hosts Santa Clara on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. on ACCNX.