LAS VEGAS – Hailee Swain scored a career-high 21 points and Shay Ijiwoye added 14, but Stanford dropped its season opener to Arizona in the Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Monday, 84-69.
The Cardinal, down by as many as 14 in the first half and 11 at halftime, erased the deficit with an 11-0 run to begin the third quarter. Ijiwoye made a driving layup, Inés Sotelo Míguez hit a 3-pointer from the top and then made another layup to force an Arizona timeout just over a minute into the period. Ijiwoye would sink a turnaround jumper and Alexandra Eschmeyer finished at the rim coming out of the stoppage to tie the game at 42.
The teams traded buckets and it was 49-47 Arizona with 3:37 to go in the third before four Stanford turnovers in the final minutes saw the deficit widen to nine, 61-52.
Aliyahna Morris made a 3-pointer for the Wildcats early in the fourth to push their lead to 66-54 with 7:43 left and Arizona would lead by less than double figures just once the rest of the way, when Swain hit a triple with 2:13 to go made it 74-65 Arizona.
Swain’s career day came on 8-of-13 shooting and she also had six boards, two assists and two steals. Ijiwoye’s 14 were just one of her career high. She shot 5-of-10 from the floor and both starting guards knocked down two 3-pointers. Sotelo Míguez had nine points and tied Swain with a team-high six rebounds in her first start for Stanford, while Nora Ezike came off the bench to score a career-high eight on 4-of-8 shooting.
Stanford shot 48.1 percent as a team, but it was turnovers that did in the Cardinal. Stanford tied a single-game school record with 30 turnovers and every player that saw the court had at least one. Arizona only had a 25-18 advantage in points off turnovers, but the Wildcats were able to take 15 more field goal attempts than the Cardinal.
The loss was Stanford’s first in a season opener since Nov. 10, 2017 at No. 5 Ohio State, 85-64.
Stanford has a quick turnaround, hosting Saint Mary’s for its home opener in Maples Pavilion on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m.