Recap: Stanford Women’s Basketball dominates Clemson on Senior Day
On Sunday, Stanford women’s basketball cruised past Clemson by a final score of 85-50 to make for a very fun and memorable senior day. Stanford seniors Talana Lepolo, Stavi Papadaki, and Lauren Green were all honored. Stanford junior forward Nunu Agara led the way for the Cardinal with 24 points and 10 rebounds while freshman point guard Hailee Swain became the youngest Cardinal since Cameron Brink to score 20+ points, finishing with 20 points and five rebounds. Rusne Augustinaite was the lone player for Clemson to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Stanford improves to 19-12 overall and 8-10 in the ACC while Clemson falls to 20-10 overall and 11-7 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford Women’s Basketball Postgame Press Conference-Clemson
BOX SCORE: Clemson at Stanford-Sunday, March 1st
“All right, very excited, very proud of our team,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “That’s a great win for us. Clemson is an excellent team. You know, their coach does a great job. Our team focused and worked really hard to prepare for this game and came out with a tremendous sense of urgency. We’ve talked a lot about if our team could get healthy and start firing on all cylinders, watch out. And I think you saw that today. We had four double digit scorers, Nunu really got it going with her double double. I thought Courtney Ogden was fantastic. Shay doing a great job out there with her energy and defense and running things for us. Hailee Swain, setting a career high and only the first freshman to score 20 points in a game since Cameron Brink. That’s pretty great company right there. Going three for six from three.
“I thought Hailee was fantastic and it was a great team win. Senior Day is always really special for Lauren Green, Talana Lepolo, Stavi Papadaki, a really nice ceremony before the game. And the best thing you can do to honor seniors that mean so much to you is play really hard for them and I think you saw that with our team today. We are headed out tomorrow to go to the ACC tournament and our team has talked about, we know that you want to be playing your best basketball in March and it’s March 1st and we’re going to build on this.”
Stanford jumped out to a 23-14 lead at the end of the 1st quarter as wing Courtney Ogden was up to seven points while Lara Somfai had six points. Both players also had two assists. Stanford was shooting 9-14 from the field while Clemson was shooting 5-15.
In the 2nd quarter, Stanford outscored Clemson 28-14, taking a 51-28 lead into halftime. Agara was up to 13 points and five rebounds while Swain (12 points) and Ogden (10 points) were also in double figures. Stanford was on fire from the field, shooting 20-29 and 5-10 from 3-point range.
“Honestly, I think just trusting my work and it also really helps that my teammates and my coaches believe in me,” Swain said of her performance. “So, I don’t have to do much thinking and just went out there and played with my teammates.”
“I can’t say enough about the work that Hailee has put in,” Paye said. “I mean, you saw the growth in her game out there today. She’s, you know, playing the 2, running the 1, attacking in transition, playing in the half court, playing great defense. You know, we put her on number 11, one of their best shooters right off the bat and just dogging defense out there. You know, she, her passing, Hailee is a worker, you know going three for six from three. There have been times when maybe her numbers weren’t great and teams were daring her to shoot and she’s in that gym working and hard work pays off and you saw it today.”
In the 3rd quarter, Stanford did not let up, outscoring Clemson 26-13 to lead 77-41. Swain was up to 18 points and three rebounds for the Cardinal while Agara had 23 points and seven rebounds. The rough afternoon continued for the Tigers.
“I think I have, we kind of emphasized that to rebound, I feel like were, I think we were out-rebounding us at half, honestly. So, I think that was a big emphasis on us getting on the boards and crashing the boards,” Agara said. “Because, I mean, when we get offensive rebounds, we get better shots, kickouts, and that’s a splash three for us. So, yeah. The emphasis was to get on the glass and get some more rebounds and yeah, Kate has been emphasizing going inside and then going inside, kick it out, and passing.”
From there, Stanford would win 85-50 as the Senior Day dominance did not stop. This was one-way traffic for the Cardinal from the opening tip. In addition to what Agara and Swain produced, Ogden finished with 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists while Somfai had a near triple double with 11 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
“Our team has just been highly motivated,” Paye said. “This is obviously, I mean, this is March and I think Clemson was highly motivated. They’re playing for a lot, too. I know they were without, you know, dealing with some injury situations. Every team deals with injuries. We’ve been through it, too. So you know, it is what it is. Our team, I knew our team was going to play really well because of our practice that we had yesterday, actually the past two days. People were totally locked in and focused.”
To touch quickly on Clemson, not having Mia Moore really hurt them. She’s their leading scorer. Without her, the odds were stacked against them. That said, they got beat far badly than one would expect. They have to be disappointed they at least didn’t make this remotely close. Charlie Creme still has them in the NCAA tournament as the last four byes, but there’s definitely pressure on them to make up for this in the ACC tournament.
As for Stanford, this was a must win and to their credit, they got it. Creme has them as the first four out, which means they have even more work to do to make the tourney. That said, they at least have a pulse and a chance to sneak in if they play well enough in the ACC tournament. While the NCAA tournament side of things was the most important part of this game, it also felt good for Stanford to win for their seniors and have their final home game of the regular season at Maples end on a positive note.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect game. Our team knows that,” Paye said. “It’s just about pursuing excellence and I thought you saw Stanford basketball out there, playing great defense, rebounding, moving the basketball, running in transition. I love the play that was Shay to Hailee inside to Nunu for the and-1. That was awesome. A lot of different people contributing, getting the ball inside, making extra passes. 21 assists. I think that ties a season high for us. I’m not going to say this was our best game. You know, I thought our win against UW, Oregon, you know, at UNC. But you know, this is March. So, to play really well in this situation, our team worked really hard for it and we’re going to build on it.”
Up next for Stanford is the ACC tournament. They’ll face Miami on Wednesday, March 4th at 8:00 AM PT on ACC Network.
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