February 09, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

The defense is doing it for Stanford

by Rick Eymer

Defense has been an important component for the Stanford women's basketball team this season. Just ask T'Nae Thiel.

"It's always at the top of my list," the senior forward said after Stanford beat Arizona State, 67-53, in a Saturday matinee. "It's one of the most important parts of my game."

Defense remains a priority for the fourth-ranked Cardinal (12-1, 21-2) as they head to Berkeley to take on California (3-10, 9-13), and as they move into the postseason.

"We work on it every day," Thiel said. "We do have basic defensive drills, but you can't go solely on those. We're always playing against each other, so I'm getting post work all the time. Defense is the reason I am on the court."

Playing against Arizona State, the Pac-10's top defensive team, was an illustration in the importance of making stops. Stanford can't always count on outrebounding its opponent, or forcing more turnovers, or even getting to the foul line more often.

What the Cardinal can do is stop the other team from scoring. Stanford's 67 points was the fewest it has scored since losing to Oregon last Dec. 29, but it was still 15 points more than the Sun Devils usually allow.

In contrast, Stanford held Arizona State 10 points below its scoring margin of the season. In essence, the Cardinal beat the Sun Devils at their own game. At the crux of the matter is field-goal percentage defense, at which Stanford excels.

The Cardinal are limiting their opponents to a .358 average from the floor, best in the conference by .020. Since Stanford averages .471 from the field itself, also best in the conference, that translates into a hefty advantage whether the Cardinal are at a disadvantage in rebounding, turnovers or free throws or not.

Stanford has outshot its opponents in every game, and that's not because Stanford has better shooters (well, in a lot of cases it does) but because players like Thiel are shutting down their foes.

"Defense is mental as much as it is physical," Thiel said. "It's all effort. I've always been a defensive player. It's something I've always focused on, and now I am able to use it. I developed it an early age."

It all began with her first basketball coach back in the third and fourth grade.

"My mom (Aricka) was my first coach and she would always get in my ear letting me know what I needed to work on," Thiel said.

Thiel and center Brooke Smith also form a formidable rebounding duo. Smith, who had 15 points and eight rebounds against Arizona State, has 126 rebounds on the season. Thiel has 124. Kristen Newlin and Azella Perryman each have 112. Rebounding, much like defense, is a shared assignment.

Stanford won its 35th straight conference home game, and its 12th straight overall. Candice Wiggins scored a game-high 20 points, 15 in the second half.

Arizona State was doing a great job defensively on Wiggins, but she's so explosive and she can score a lot of points in a hurry. She helped open the hotly-contested defensive battle with a flurry of seven points during a 10-0 run that gave the Cardinal a 50-31 lead midway through the second half.

"I was getting good shots and good looks but I was rushing," Wiggins said. "I just started relaxing."

Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne, who played at Stanford the first three years of Tara VanDerveer's tenure, was among the many coaches who coveted Wiggins' services.

"That young lady's intensity is just incredible," Turner Thorne said. "That's what impresses me the most. She finds a way to hurt you. If it's not on the offensive end, it's on the defensive end."

With a single game this week, Stanford will take an extra day off.

"We're ready for a break," VanDerveer said. "It will give us some energy heading into California and the Los Angeles schools."

The Cardinal thoroughly dominated Arizona, 91-74, on Thursday night, never trailing in the game.

When Kelley Suminski hit a 3-pointer with 10:16 left in the first half, Stanford grabbed an 18-8 lead. The Cardinal never trailed by fewer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Stanford scored more than 90 points for the fourth time this season, with Wiggins leading the way with 20 points. Susan King Borchardt added a season-high 17 points and Smith had 13. Perryman scored a season high 10 points.

The 91 points were the most allowed by Arizona this season. Stanford also shot .534 from the field, the best against the Wildcats this year.

Stanford, meanwhile, learned it would lose freshman guard Cissy Pierce for at least two weeks after dislocating two fingers in her right hand. Pierce injured herself during Thursday's shootaround.

The Cardinal are already without Clare Bodensteiner, Christy Titchenal, Shelley Nweke, Eziamaka Okafor and Jessica Elway because of various injuries.
Men's basketball

Stanford saw all kinds of winning streaks go by the wayside over the weekend, losing to Arizona, 90-72, on Saturday after dropping a 74-67 decision at Arizona State last Thursday.

Now the Cardinal (6-5, 12-9) are in a battle to maintain their precarious hold on third place in the Pac-10 heading into Saturday's 12:30 p.m. game with visiting California.

The Bears (5-6, 12-9) have come out of hibernation since losing to Stanford last time and are slowly pawing their way up the conference standings.

The Cardinal are now three games back of co-leaders Arizona and Washington, dropping into a third-place tie with UCLA (6-5, 12-7) as Arizona State swept the Cardinal for the first time in 11 years, and Arizona beat Stanford at home for the first time in five years.

Stanford has beaten Cal four straight and in 14 of their previous 16 meetings. The Bears haven't won in Maples Pavilion in 12 years.

The Cardinal beat Arizona their last four trips to Tucson, and had a three-game winning streak against the Wildcats overall.

"They were really, really good," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. "They had some guys coming out with a lot of energy. They made some shots early, got some separation and we had to play from behind, which isn't what we do best."

Dan Grunfeld scored 23 points for Stanford. Chris Hernandez added 3 and Matt Haryasz had 12.

"It was neck-and-neck for a while and they got some good shots," Grunfeld said. "That's the way the game goes; when you make some 3s, you get some momentum."

Salim Stoudamire, who was 5-of-9 on 3-pointers, scored 20 of his game-high 26 points in the second half.

Arizona went on an 11-2 run in the first half to open up a close game. The Wildcats eventually built a 40-27 advantage before Stanford went on a run to make it 42-34 at halftime.

Against Arizona State, Stanford led late in the first half but the Sun Devils went on a run from which the Cardinal never recovered.

Nick Robinson scored a career best 17 points, while Haryasz had 14, and Hernandez added 12. Rob Little grabbed a career high 14 rebounds.

Stanford led 13-4 in the opening minutes, but Arizona State scored 23 of the next 33 points to gain the lead late in the first half. The Sun Devils never trailed again, although Stanford made things interesting.

Stanford drew within 59-57 when Little made a free throw with 2:32 remaining.

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