STANFORD, Calif. – Hailee Swain scored a career-high 26 points to lead Stanford to a 67-60 win over visiting UC Davis on Sunday afternoon.
Swain scored her 26 on 10-of-19 shooting, including a couple 3-pointers, to go with five rebounds and two steals. She’s the first Stanford guard with back-to-back-to-back 20-point games since Kiana Williams scored that many in three straight against Oregon State (20), UCLA (26) and Utah Valley (20) in March 2021, and the first Stanford guard to start a season with 20+ in each of the first three games of a season since Lili Thompson scored 26, 24 and 28 in the first three in 2014-15.
Stanford (2-1) was up for much of the game but didn’t grab a double-digit lead until it closed the third quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 54-42 heading into the fourth. The spurt was started with a Kennedy Umeh layup and finished with a pair of Nora Ezike 3-pointers.
UC Davis (1-2) responded with an 8-0 run of its own in the fourth to pull within three, 56-53, with 5:34 remaining. But the Aggies had four turnovers in the next four minutes and went just 1-of-6 from the floor. Stanford made its last seven free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal it.
Ezike joined Swain in double figures with 11 on 4-of-8 shooting and was 3-of-4 from deep. The sophomore had made one 3-pointer in her career before Sunday, and that came in Stanford’s win on Wednesday night against Saint Mary’s. She also had three steals and in three games this year is averaging 12.3 points on 61.5 percent shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals.
Stanford had 10 steals, its second consecutive game in double figures, and nine blocks, its most since a game against Duke last January 11 (also nine). Umeh had a career-high four of those nine rejections and Alexandra Eschmeyer added three.
Eschmeyer also had eight points and seven boards, and Charlotte Tuhy contributed nine points and seven rebounds. The duo combined for seven of Stanford’s 10 fourth-quarter rebounds.
Shay Ijiwoye had six points, five rebounds and a career-high tying five assists. She’s averaging a team-high four assists per game this season.
UC Davis did not attempt a free throw, the first time that has happened to a Stanford opponent since Morgan State on Dec. 31, 2023, but was 12-of-26 from deep. The Aggies were 46.2 percent on 3-pointers and 20.8 percent (12-of-39) from inside the arc.
Stanford returns to the floor when it plays at Santa Clara on Friday, November 13 at 7 p.m.