STANFORD, Calif. – Nunu Agara went for 27 points and nine rebounds and Stanford led wire-to-wire in beating visiting Wake Forest 55-43 on Thursday.
Hailee Swain added 10 points, and Alexandra Eschmeyer contributed 11 rebounds and six blocks in helping the Cardinal move to 14-3 overall this season and 3-1 in the ACC.
The Cardinal was limited to 29.8 percent shooting (17-of-57) by a zone-heavy Wake Forest defense that came into the night 16th in the country in opponent field goal percentage (.347). But Agara was able to find soft spots in the middle and made nine of her 17 attempts from the floor (.529) to score 20+ for the third time this season and ninth time in her career. Her 27 points were bettered only by the 29 she scored at LSU on Dec. 5, 2024.
Stanford went up by as many as 17 late in the third when Agara hit a pull-up jumper in the paint. Wake Forest got to within 10 on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter and the Cardinal had an answer each time. It was 43-33 when Shay Ijiwoye fed Lara Somfai down low for two and 45-35 when Agara hit a turnaround jumper off an assist from Swain. With under a minute to go, the Demon Deacons’ Mary Carter made a 3-pointer to make it 51-41 before Talana Lepolo hit two free throws at the other end to extend the lead again.
Wake Forest was within single digits just once in the second half, when Opal Bird hit a jumper to cut Stanford’s advantage to 24-15 with 8:47 on the clock in the third.
Stanford’s defense limited Wake Forest to 29.1 percent from the field (16-of-55) and held the Demon Deacons’ leading scorer, Grace Oliver (14.4 ppg), to one point on 0-of-5 shooting.
The 43 points Stanford allowed were its fewest in a conference game since giving up 38 at Washington State on Feb. 3, 2023. It was the first time holding a league opponent under 30.0 percent shooting since Feb. 4, 2024 against UCLA (.286). It was the Cardinal’s first time shooting less than 30.0 percent since the 2019 Sweet 16 against Missouri State when it hit just 25.0 percent in a 55-46 win.
Eschmeyer’s six blocks were the most for a Stanford player since Cameron Brink had seven in the 2024 Sweet 16 against NC State and the most for a Cardinal freshman since Brink had six in the 2021 Final Four against South Carolina. She’s the first Stanford freshman with 11 rebounds and six blocks in available records dating back to 2002-03 and the only freshman in the country to have those numbers in a game this season.
Stanford was +19 on the boards (51-32) and had 20 offensive rebounds, including five from Agara and four each from Eschmeyer and Ijiwoye, its most since Nov. 24, 2023 against Florida State (20).
The Cardinal is back in action on Sunday when it hosts Duke at 2 p.m. on ESPN.