By Rick Eymer
Palo Alto Online Sports
Jeanette Pohlen joined the exotic statistical company of former Stanford greats Jennifer Azzi, Sonja Henning and Nicole Powell as the third-ranked Stanford women’s basketball team extended a few winning streaks in Thursday night’s 100-59 victory over visiting Washington State.
Pohlen, who recorded eight assists in the win, reached 500 career assists with her first one against the Cougars, becoming the fourth Cardinal women’s player to record at least 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 500 assists.
Pohlen added 12 points as Stanford (12-0, 21-2) won its 15th straight, its 49th straight against a Pac-10 opponent and its 57th straight at home all the while closing in on its 11th straight conference title.
“First and foremost we want to defend Maples,” Pohlen said. “There’s always something you can take away from each game.”
Nnemkadi Ogwumike added 19 points and Kayla Pedersen had 15 as, oh by the way, the Cardinal beat the Cougars to improve to 52-0 against them in their all-time series. Freshman guard Toni Kokenis scored a season-high 13 points.
“Toni had a great game coming back from her concussion,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.
By the time Stanford finished scoring the first 13 points of the second half, the memory of Washington State’s 28-26 lead with 6:51 remaining (on a 3-pointer by Jazmine Perkins, who had a terrific night) in the first half was all but erased.
“We just told each other we needed to play lockdown defense,” Pohlen said. “We picked it up. We needed to defend the 3-point line a little better.”
The Cardinal didn’t even wait for the usual halftime discourse, outscoring the Cougars 20-4 to take a 46-32 advantage into intermission. The late rally likely lightened the earful the players might have reached from VanDerveer.
“We were not as aggressive as we needed to be,” VanDerveer said. “I thought we came out a little too casual. I didn’t have to say too much. We made some adjustments at halftime and were able to get the ball inside.”
Kokenis only needed 12 minutes on the court to achieve her second double-digit scoring night of the season.
“I think we were being a little bit too reactive in the first half,” Nnemkadi Ogwumike said. “They have a young team and they’re winning more. They are willing to take risks. When we’re not performing it’s a lack of concentration.”
Stanford hosts Washington at 2 p.m. Saturday.
It is a great pleasure to see the performance of these outstanding athletes.