Chiney Ogwumike scored 30 points, setting yet another Stanford offensive record, and the fourth-ranked Cardinal women’s basketball team routed host Utah, 87-61, in a Pac-12 Conference contest Friday night.
Amber Orrange added 14 points and Mikaela Ruef matched her career high with 14 rebounds as Stanford (3-0 in the Pac-12, 14-1 overall) won its 13th straight.
Stanford returns to action Sunday against No. host 17 Colorado in Boulder at 2 p.m. in a game to be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.
“I thought we had good balance in scoring,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “Chiney again had 30, but different people were contributing. I thought we were moving the ball and shooting the ball.”
Ogwumike, who entered the game ranked third in the nation in scoring (26.6) and 10th in rebounding (11.6) missed another double-double by one rebound as she continued rewriting the Cardinal women’s basketball record books.
Ogwumike recorded her fifth 30-plus point game in her past six games and has seven on the season, snapping a tie with older sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike for the Stanford record for most 30-plus points in a single season.
“I’ve come to the point where my coaches say, if I’m open, I have to shoot the ball with confidence,” Ogwumike said. “I love things on the block, but people are going to double and triple team me. So I’ve really had to elevate my game.”
It was her ninth career 30-point game, fourth all-time and one behind co-second place Jeanne Ruark Hoff and Nnemkadi Ogwumike. Candice Wiggins sets the standard with 12.
Ogwumike has 2,173 career points, 42 shy of matching Kate Starbird for third all-time. She also broke a tie with Ruark Hoff for second on the points per game leader list.
Ogwumike has 1,293 rebounds, extending her own Pac-12 and school career record. She also currently resides in Stanford’s top spot for rebounds per game (10.5) and field goal percentage (over .590 after making over 75 percent of her shots against the Utes).
Ogwumike leads the Pac-12 with her 63.4 percent field goal percentage and is sixth in the nation.
Orrange, meanwhile, continues to accelerate her improvement as the Cardinal point guard. She has 25 assists and one turnover in her past four games.
Orrange leads the Pac-12 in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.2-1) and moved into the top 10 among national leaders.
Stanford opened a 15-4 lead in the first four minutes against Utah, with Ogwumike and Ruef accounting for 10 of the points.
The Utes were within eight with 12:23 remaining to play in the first half, but Stanford’s Lili Thompson’s 3-pointer jump-started an 11-0 run to put Utah into a hole from which it could not fill.
Arizona State knocked USC out of first place with a 94-86 overtime win against the Trojans Friday and California rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat host Colorado, 57-55, with a late basket.
Washington State, also unbeaten in conference play, is at Washington on Saturday.
Men’s volleyball
Steven Irvin had 20 kills and recorded a hitting percentage of .400 as No. 4 Stanford held off No. 8 Lewis, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23, in a nonconference match Friday night at Maples Pavilion.
Daniel Tublin added 12 kills for the Cardinal (2-0), which hosts Grand Canyon at Burnham Pavilion on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Sophomore setter James Shaw had 44 assists in the victory and was successful on five of six attacks for an .833 hitting percentage.
Lewis held a 17-10 advantage in the fourth set before the Cardinal scored four consecutive points, two on kills from Tublin, to climb back into it.
Stanford called a timeout when Lewis took a 20-15 edge. The teams split the next two points but the Cardinal drew within 21-19, which included kills from Irvin and Tublin.
After the Flyers made it 22-19, Conrad Kaminski produced a kill and a service ace as Stanford rallied to take a 23-22 lead, with a block from Shaw and Denny Falls the go-ahead point.
Lewis saved one match point but Shaw recorded a kill and then served match point.
Fencing
Stanford women’s team opened its season with a 17-10 loss to visiting Northwestern on Friday at the Arrillaga Center for Sports & Recreation.
Stanford’s Epee group won its competition, 5-4, with All-American Francesca Bassa and Vivian Kong each winning twice, while freshman May Peterson earned her first collegiate victory.
“I am really proud of this team,” said Kong. “We had some good fencing.”
Both the Cardinal men’s and women’s teams will be in action Saturday at the Western Invitational, hosted by Stanford.
The women start the day at 9 a.m. in a rematch against Northwestern. Both teams will then square off against Cal Tech, Florida, UC San Diego and Air Force.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports