Despite its record-setting blowout of Cal on Saturday, the Stanford women's basketball team has no reason to rest on its collective laurels.
On Thursday, the Cardinal (16-0 in the Pac-10, 23-2 overall) hosts Arizona (9-7, 18-7) at 7 p.m. in the penultimate conference game of the season. The regular season concludes when Arizona State (4-12, 8-17) comes to Maples Pavilion on Saturday, also at 7 p.m.
While it appears nothing is at stake this week, Stanford very much wants to finish undefeated in conference in order to garner a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament brackets. Last season, the Cardinal compiled a 17-1 Pac-10 record (26-2 overall) but still failed to receive a top seed.
While neither game this week appears to presents a stern challenge, Stanford must make do without sophomore forward Vanessa Nygaard. She has a stress fracture in her left foot and missed Saturday's 87-36 victory over visiting Cal, the largest margin of defeat ever for a Bear team and the lowest point total that Stanford has ever yielded to Cal.
Nygaard currently is wearing an air cast on her foot and may return for the NCAA Tournament, which begins March 14 with the first round of the sub-regionals.
Even without Nygaard, one of the Cardinal's so-called Big Three, Stanford has plenty of talent to win both games this week. One key player will be junior forward Kate Starbird, who devastated Cal (2-14, 6-19) with 20 points in the first half (22 overall).
Starbird, the only West Coast player among the 10 finalists for the Naismith Award, prowled the baseline and penetrated to the basket, making nine of 16 shots and had five steals.
Other big contributors included Heather Owen, who canned nine of 12 field-goal attempts and scored a career-high 21 points to go with seven rebounds; Naomi Mulitauaopele, who had 15 points and nine rebounds; and Olympia Scott, who collected 10 points and 10 rebounds.
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