STANFORD, Calif. – Shay Ijiwoye was one of four Cardinal in double figures with a career-high 15 points, but Stanford was beaten by visiting Louisville on Thursday night 84-66.
Courtney Ogden led Stanford with 16, Chloe Clardy had 15 and Hailee Swain added 12 for the Cardinal, which shot 43 percent.
The No. 7 Cardinals distanced themselves from Stanford (15-7, 4-5 ACC) in the second quarter. Down seven after one, Stanford shot 54.5 percent in the second period but turned the ball over 10 times. Louisville had a 12-2 edge in points off turnovers that quarter, took 10 more shot attempts than the Cardinal and led 48-30 at halftime.
Stanford got it to within 10 late in the third quarter, 56-46, when Ijiwoye made a driving layup, but Louisville closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to push the lead back to 17.
Louisville went on a 15-2 run late in the game to grow an advantage as big as 27 (82-55) before Stanford closed with an 11-2 spurt over the game’s final two minutes.
With Nunu Agara unavailable, Alexandra Eschmeyer made her first career start alongside fellow freshmen Hailee Swain and Lara Somfai, and junior Chloe Clardy. It was the first time Stanford had started three freshmen since January 18, 1992 when freshmen Rachel Hemmer, Anita Kaplan and Tanda Rucker started with juniors Molly Goodenbour and Val Whiting in a 95-92 victory over UCLA. Talana Lepolo was also unavailable for the second consecutive game.
Stanford had 22 turnovers on the night, its fifth game this season with at least 20, the program’s most since it had five 20-turnover games in 2008-09.
Stanford next hosts Notre Dame on Sunday at 1 p.m. on The CW.