Brittany McPhee scored 22 and Erica McCall had her first double-double of the year, but after battling back from a double-digit hole, No. 11 Stanford went cold down the stretch and lost to Gonzaga 68-63 on Friday night.
“They shot the ball well, they passed the ball and we didn’t do enough to disrupt them,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “We struggled offensively. We’re not moving the ball like we need.”
The Cardinal (2-1) was down 10 early in the third quarter, but closed the final 6:24 of the period on an 18-3 run and took a five-point lead heading into the fourth. Stanford was up two, 61-59, when McPhee made a layup with four minutes to go, but that would be its last field goal.
“I think that renewed energy got us going,” McCall said. “The coaches were really getting on us to get the ball inside and once we did, we started scoring.”
Elle Tinkle, the younger sister of former Stanford standout Joslyn Tinkle, made a layup to tie it and Laura Stockton hit a 3-pointer to push Gonzaga (3-0) ahead.
“Basketball is in the Tinkle family and when we’re not playing them, I’m rooting for her,” VanDerveer said. “She played really well. She played a great game.”
McPhee sank two free throws with under a minute left and was poised to regain the lead for her team when she drove left with 17.3 seconds on the clock, but Tinkle came up with the biggest of her game-high three blocks to stymie Stanford.
It’s the second consecutive season Stanford has followed up a win over a ranked team with a home loss to a West Coast Conference opponent. Last November, Santa Clara beat the Cardinal 61-58 two days after Stanford beat No. 22 George Washington by 21.
McPhee followed up her 28-point, seven-rebound performance against No. 8 Texas with a 22-point, eight-rebound outing against Gonzaga. McCall had 17 points and 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.
Stanford shot just 37.9 percent from the floor (22-of-58) and made only 3-of-18 from behind the arc (.167). Gonzaga, which entered the night attempting nearly half of its shots from 3-point range, was 1-of-3 in the first half from deep, but 7-of-10 in the second.
The Cardinal returns to the court on Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. when it hosts CSUN (2-1). Fans can bring a canned food item to receive a voucher for a $5 ticket to the game. All donations will go to Second Harvest Food Bank.
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics