By Rick Eymer
Palo Alto Online Sports
The third-ranked Stanford women’s basketball team survived a scare at Gonzaga, beating the host Bulldogs, 84-78, in a nonconference game Sunday.
Nnemkadi Ogwumike, who missed Friday night’s game against Utah with an undisclosed medical condition, scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Cardinal (3-0), which returns to host South Carolina in a nonconference game on Friday at 1 p.m.
Gonzaga played inspired ball in front of a packed house, and tied the game at 68-all when Kayla Standish hit a 3-pointer with 5:29 remaining to play.
Freshman Toni Kokenis hit a pair of free throws 18 seconds later to put Stanford ahead to stay. The Bulldogs missed seven consecutive shots after tying the game, allowing Stanford to build a 77-68 advantage with 2:43 left on a Jeanette Pohlen 3-pointer.
Pohlen added 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-7 from long range. Kayla Pedersen had eight points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Joslyn Tinkle scored 11 points.
Gonzaga had its 19-game home winning streak snapped, which dated to its last sellout against Tennessee in 2008.
Gonzaga opened with an 18-14 edge but Stanford went on a 16-5 run, sparked by a rare Ogwumike 3-pointer, to build a seven-point advantage en route to a 45-37 halftime lead.
Men’s basketball
Stanford has the home court thing down pat, beating visiting Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 92-49, Sunday to sweep its first three games.
Next up is a road trip to the 76 Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center. The Cardinal (3-0) meet Murray State Thursday at 6 p.m.
Stanford does not play at home until Dec. 12, when it hosts UC Riverside at 5 p.m.
The Cardinal trailed, 28-27, late in the first half and then used a 24-3 run to break it open.
Jeremy Green scored 21 points for the second straight game, Josh Owens added 14 points and nine rebounds and freshman Dwight Powell added 12 points for the Cardinal.
Powell, a 6-9 forward from Toronto, is used to traveling from his days at IMG Academy so he’s not making much of his first collegiate road trip.
“I really hadn’t thought about it,” he said. “I come at it like it’s the next game and we have to do what needs to be done to get ready.”
The trip will give Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins some idea of how his younger players respond to adversity and more of a neutral environment.
“The trip to play in a tournament will be good for us,” Dawkins said. “It was a great field last year and it’s another good field this year. It will help us continue to prepare us for conference play.”
Freshmen Anthony Brown contributed 10 points and Stefan Nastic had eight points and seven rebounds.
Stanford also shot 67 percent from the foul line, making 26-of-39 attempts. That’s a vast improvement over the combined 17-of-39 (51 percent) over the first two games.
Wrestling
Sophomore Ryan Mango went undefeated at the Fullerton Open to capture the 125-pound title, Saturday.
Mango began the day with a 15-3 major decision over Cal State Bakersfield’s Miguel Comparan. He followed with back-to-back pins over San Francisco State’s Pierre Bondoc in 2:00 and Cal Poly’s Jesse Delgado in 5:58.
Mango completed the tournament with a 3-2 win over Arizona State’s Ben Ashmore in the championship bout.
Redshirt sophomore Timmy Boone finished runner-up at 149 pounds and senior Lucas Espericueta was the runner-up at 165 pounds.
Mike Kent finished third at 157 pounds, and Dan Scherer was third at 184 pounds.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports