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Recap: #7 Stanford WBB falls to #18 South Florida

One day after a thrilling victory over #4 Indiana, #7 Stanford women’s basketball fell to #18 South Florida 57-54 in their second game of a three game affair in the Bahamas. Senior guard Sydni Harvey led the way for South Florida with 15 points and 3 rebounds while junior guard Elena Tsineke finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Senior forward Bethy Mununga had a huge night on the glass for South Florida, pulling down 23 rebounds to go along with her 6 points. As for Stanford, sophomore forward Cameron Brink once again was the top performer with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks while freshman guard Brooke Demetre finished with 14 points and 3 rebounds. South Florida improves to 5-2 overall while Stanford falls to 4-2.

“Always tough to lose a game like that,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “I thought we made some real big plays. Really proud of how our team battled in the second half…You’re never going to win close games like this shooting 4-12 from the free throw line or giving up 24 offensive boards. Those things we really need to figure out in order to move forward.”

South Florida jumped out to an 8-2 lead with 4:56 to go in the 1st quarter. Sydni Harvey was up to 4 points for the Bulls on 4-4 shooting from the field. Both teams were off to a rough shooting start from the field as South Florida was shooting 2-9 and Stanford was 0-4.

South Florida would then lead 15-9 at the end of the 1st quarter. Right before the buzzer sounded, Haley Jones found Cameron Brink inside, hoping to get Stanford going. Brink was now up to 6 points. Harvey and Tsineke each had 4 points for South Florida.

South Florida extended their lead even further to go up 23-13 with 4:59 to go in the half. Elisa Pinzan (6 points) and Sydni Harvey (7 points) were balling out for South Florida. Stanford needed to find a way to slow them down. Outside of Cameron Brink (8 points), nobody else was doing much for Stanford.

South Florida continued to play well the rest of the way and took a 28-19 lead into halftime. Sydni Harvey (7 points & 2 rebounds), Elisa Pinzan (6 points & 3 rebounds), and Elena Tsineke (6 points & 2 rebounds) were leading the charge for the Bulls. Cameron Brink (14 points & 2 rebounds) was leading Stanford. She needed more help as only Lexie Hull (3 points) and Lacie Hull (2 points) were on the board for the Cardinal outside of her.

South Florida would continue to lead up 35-28 with 5:03 to go in the 3rd quarter. Cameron Brink was up to 16 points for Stanford while Brooke Demetre was coming alive with 7 points on 3-5 shooting from the field and 1-3 shooting from 3-point range.

South Florida would still lead at the end of the 3rd quarter, but Stanford had closed the gap as it was now a 39-36 game. The Cardinal were storming back. Harvey was up to 12 points for South Florida while Brink was up to 18 points for Stanford.

“Cam’s been a horse,” VanDerveer said of Brink. “She’s playing great the last two games. We need to give her more help. We need other people to make plays…Again I think Lacey is doing a nice job, running our offense, she had five assists, but I think she’s doing a good job for us. We need more from our returners, whether it’s Ashten, whether it’s Fran, Haley, we’re trying to figure out some pieces to the puzzle. But I was really excited with what Brooke did today. Really excited.”

The game would then be tied 42-42 with 7:14 to go as South Florida called for time. Brink continued to dominate for Stanford as she was up to 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. She was doing all she could to keep the Cardinal in the game.

With 1:56 to go, South Florida led 51-50 after Stanford briefly took the lead. A jumper from Tsineke gave them the lead back. Stanford called for time.

South Florida would lead 52-50 with 27 seconds to go after Bethy Mununga went 1-2 at the line. Stanford called for time, hoping to draw something up. On the next play, Cameron Brink got a huge rebound and kicked the ball out to Lacie Hull for a 3-pointer, who made the shot, making it a 53-52 lead for Stanford with 14 seconds to go as now South Florida was calling for time.

As Elena Tsineke went up for a layup, she was met at the rim by the Cameron Brink, who blocked her shot. Brooke Demetre got the rebound and went to the foul line where she went 1-2. It was now a 54-52 lead for Stanford with 9 seconds to go. On their next possession, South Florida took the lead thanks to a clutch 3-pointer from Sydni Harvey. It was now a 55-54 South Florida lead with only a couple of seconds left.

On their next possession, Stanford got called for a travel after the inbound as Brooke Demetre took too many steps trying to make a pass to a cutting teammate. South Florida got the ball back and tacked on a couple more points from Elisa Pinzan at the foul line, making it a 57-54 final score.

For Stanford, this loss really stings after getting a huge win over Indiana yesterday. They had an opportunity at the end and weren’t able to get the job done. Free throws once again were killer and they also weren’t able to get Cameron Brink enough help. Only Brooke Demetre and Hannah Jump (9 points) really showed up to offer support.

“We’re playing great teams down here,” VanDerveer said. “Gonzaga could have gone either way, Indiana could have gone either way…This is great basketball. Running situations and game situations. We made some big plays. Cam played really well, but we gotta have more than Cam…Brooke was a great spark in the second half…We can’t win games shooting 4-12 from the free throw line. It’s ridiculous…Other people are going to have to step up.

“This is a great opportunity for someone like Kiki…It’s tough. You’re on the other side of this. We had chances. So, we gotta put it behind us and get ready for Maryland. We don’t have an easy road ahead. We don’t have an easy road. We got Maryland, we got Tennessee, we got South Carolina, we gotta play better.”

At this point, all that Stanford can do is move on from this, learn from it, and look ahead to tomorrow’s game against #2 Maryland, which will tipoff at 12:00 PM PT on FloHoops and Varsity Network radio. To read more about tomorrow’s matchup, click here.

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