Recap: #3 Stanford WBB takes care of business at #7 Tennessee
On Saturday, #3 Stanford women’s basketball defeated #7 Tennessee 74-63 on the road in Knoxville. Stanford junior guard Haley Jones led the way for the Cardinal with 18 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, and 6 assists while junior forward Ashten Prechtel finished with 12 points, 11 of which were scored in the 4th quarter. Tennessee junior guard Jordan Horston was the top performer for the Lady Vols with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. Stanford improves to 8-2 overall while Tennessee falls to 9-1.
Stanford got out to a 7-6 lead with 4:39 to go in the 1st quarter. Hannah Jump was on the board for the Cardinal with a triple. Both teams were struggling to score as Stanford was shooting 2-8 from the field while Tennessee was shooting 1-6.
At the end of the 1st quarter, Stanford led 17-13. Lexie Hull was catching fire with 8 points on 2-3 shooting from 3-point range. Stanford was controlling the boards with 11 rebounds to Tennessee’s 7. Sara Puckett was leading Tennessee with 5 points.
Stanford would continue to extend their lead, going up 26-18 with 6:30 to go in the 2nd quarter as Anna Wilson nailed a nice 3-pointer from straight away. Stanford’s 4-8 shooting from 3-point range and 6-6 shooting from the foul line was making the difference. Lexie Hull (8 points) was leading Stanford while Sara Puckett (8 points) was leading Tennessee.
At halftime, Stanford was up 43-26. Lexie Hull (11 points) and Haley Jones (10 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists) were leading the charge for the Cardinal. Just an all-around dominant performance. Threes were falling, players were cutting to the hoop for easy baskets, and everything else seemed to be going the Cardinal’s way.
Tennessee came out on a mission in the 3rd quarter, going on a 13-0 run that went back to the end of the first half. Tennessee’s ball pressure was making an impact and forcing a lot of Stanford turnovers. With 5:47 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford was now up by just six points (43-37).
With 4:21 to go in the 3rd quarter, it was now just a 43-39 lead for Stanford as Tennessee was winning the 3rd quarter 13-0. Stanford needed to recover quickly.
The last play of the 3rd quarter was huge for Stanford as Anna Wilson pushed the ball in transition and found Hannah Jump for the corner three to beat the buzzer. Stanford really needed that. As a result, Stanford took a 52-46 lead into the 4th quarter.
Stanford found a way to stave off the Tennessee comeback to start the 4th quarter as Ashten Prechtel heated up with 11 points in the quarter on 4-4 shooting from the field and 3-3 shooting from 3-point range. Thanks to Prechtel finding her groove, Stanford led 63-55 with 3:51 to go. She had all 11 of Stanford’s 4th quarter points up to this point. Cameron Brink also fouled out after having played just eight minutes. With Brink having an off night, Prechtel’s 4th quarter heroics really saved Stanford’s bacon.
With 1:42 to go, Stanford was up 67-61. It was just a matter of hanging tough and not letting Tennessee get back into the game. Over the next minute, Stanford would close the door to lead 72-61 with 43.5 to go. In the end, it was a 74-63 victory for Stanford. Aside from a terrible 3rd quarter, Stanford played really well in this one. They shot 9-25 (36.0%) from 3-point range and 21-24 (87.5%) from the foul line while also winning the battle on the glass 52-43 despite Cameron Brink being in foul trouble and Francesca Belibi being unavailable.
Stanford should feel proud with how this game went. They went into a hostile environment against an undefeated top ten team and walked out with a victory that was decisive. Stanford was the better team in this one and it showed for most of the game. Lexie Hull got them going, Ashten Prechtel saved the day in the 4th quarter, and Haley Jones was brilliant throughout. And it wasn’t just those three players that had an impact. Anna Wilson ran the offense well, Hannah Jump made some clutch threes, and Kiki Iriafen brought energy off the bench with 10 points and 5 rebounds on a perfect 4-4 shooting from the field and 2-2 shooting from the foul line.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at #1 South Carolina on Tuesday, December 21st. That game will tipoff at 4:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and Varsity Network radio.
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