Recap: Stanford Women’s Basketball dominates Cal Poly
On Sunday, Stanford women’s basketball dominated Cal Poly 90-55. Stanford junior forward Nunu Agara led the way for the Cardinal with 16 points and seven rebounds while freshman forward Lara Somfai had another double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Somfai was named ACC Rookie of the Week on Monday. Cal Poly guard Vanessa McManus led all scorers with 29 points. Stanford improves to 3-0 on the season while Cal Poly falls to 1-1.
VIDEO: Stanford Women’s Basketball Postgame Press Conference: Cal Poly
BOX SCORE: Cal Poly at Stanford-November 9th, 2025
“That was a really nice win for our team,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “I was very excited about our first half. I thought we took our foot off the gas pedal a little bit there in the second half. First, I want to thank Cal Poly and their head coach Shanele Stires, who is a former teammate of mine. We played together on the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA and she is a lifelong friend for bringing her team up here. I know that that is a big commitment. Shanele is a great coach and her team plays very hard. She has a lot of young players and I know that once they get healthy, they’re gonna have a great year.
“So, you know, it was great to play against a variety of defenses. They press, they play player, they played zone. You know, that really helped us. I was really, really excited about the way Courtney Ogden played. She came out with a, you know, just very aggressive mindset, got herself going on the glass. Rebounding, playing great defense, and from there, her offense just flowed.
“Nunu, you know, with 16 points, seven rebounds, led us in offensive rebounding with five. Again, perfect from the line. Again, I’m excited we have five double digit scorers. We have a lot of balance and our team is very unselfish, we’re gonna learn a lot from this, and you know, three games in seven days is kind of a busy stretch, but it’s been fun and our team will enjoy much earned rest day tomorrow and then we’ll get right back to it on Tuesday.”
Stanford got off to a hot start, leading 28-13 at the end of the 1st quarter. Freshman point guard Hailee Swain was up to eight points for the Cardinal on 4-5 shooting from the field while Agara had six points on 3-3 shooting from the field. As for McManus, she was doing her part for Cal Poly with seven points. Stanford was shooting 13-20 from the field while Cal Poly was shooting 5-13.
Stanford outscored Cal Poly 24-8 in the 2nd quarter, leading 52-21 at halftime. Swain and Agara both had 12 points for the Cardinal while Chloe Clardy was up to eight points. As for Cal Poly, McManus was up to 13 points. Stanford was dominating, really putting the clamps down defensively.
“I want to give a shout out to Chole Clardy in particular,” Paye said referencing their bench. “You know, Chloe started a lot of games for us this year and for right now, you know, what her team needs is for her to come on the bench, come off the bench and play, you know, any of the perimeter positions, and she is doing fantastic. And every coach out there knows that that is a dream to be able to go to your bench and you know, have Chloe play with her experience, her skillset, her defense, offense, you know, she’s just doing a terrific job.”
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 73-41. Agara was up to 16 points for the Cardinal while Somfai was up to 14 points. The Cardinal continued to dominate.
From there, Stanford would walk out with a comfortable 90-55 victory. They won wire to wire, really taking care of business in the first half such that they could have a relaxing second half.
For Stanford, the way in which they won is encouraging. Cal Poly is a team they are expected to beat, but to come out and crush them like they did sends a message in and of itself. Stanford got a lot of different players going and had as good of a game as they would have liked to have had. Courtney Ogden was one who really stepped up, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds.
“Just talking with Kate and I mean, my teammates gave me confidence and just told me to come out aggressive and come out looking for my shot,” Ogden said. “And like Kate said, starting with the boards, starting with defense, and rebounding, I think really got me going.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Washington State on Friday, November 14th at 4:00 PM PT on ESPN+.
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