The fourth-ranked Stanford women’s basketball team took a back seat to history on a profoundly personal day for Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu at Maples Pavilion on Monday night.
Ionescu recorded her 26th career triple-double and became the first player in NCAA basketball history, male or female, to record more 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in Oregon’s 74-66 Pac-12 Conference victory over the Cardinal in front of 6,511 fans.
It was quite a performance for the senior, who played her high school ball in the East Bay. She started the day at Kobe Bryant’s family memorial in Los Angeles, as one of the speakers.
Oregon clinched the conference title with two games to play. Stanford (24-4, 13-3) needs to win both of its remaining games, beginning with Friday’s 5 p.m. game at No. 13 Arizona, to grab the No. 2 seed for the Pac-12 Conference tournament. The Cardinal has clinched one of the top four seeds, which means a bye on the first day of the tournament.
Lexie Hull scored 27 points for Stanford, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. Hull hit a career-best six 3-pointers and had a team-best five assists.
Kiana Williams added 14 points and Nadia Fingall grabbed 12 rebounds.
“When we took care of the ball we did very well,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “In the beginning we were turning the ball over too much and not get rebounds.”
Stanford cut the deficit to just five points early in the third, before Oregon's Satou Sabally helped extend the Ducks lead with strong play both inside and out.
“One of the hardest things to do against a team that is good for 40 minutes is climbing out of a hole,” Hull said. “In the second half we competed but could never get out of that hole.”
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