Well that was fun! Enthusiastic crowd. The Band. Maples is better with the Band. Alumnae in the stands. Star power on the court.

DNP: Mikaela and Maya were both in walking boots.

USA did look rusty at the start. You just knew they would find their rhythm and they did. It's funny how a missed shot leads to a transition basket and the flood gates open. But Stanford didn't fold, they kept competing and were within six late in the third. The outcome was never in doubt, let's be real. But we should be proud of the way Stanford competed and what a wonderful experience for them.

Here are some random thoughts and observations:

Lexie has raised her game with the catch-and-shoot shot. She hit two of those tonight. We saw DiJonai attack the basket on several occasions. Stanford will go as far as her knees can take them. Nadia is still a question mark for me. She doesn't appear to be able to jump with strength or move laterally. She also took a really hard fall.

Stanford sat in a 2/3 zone at times. With Ashten anchoring the middle it was fun to watch. She had some strong rebounding moments and excellent passes to cutting teammates on offense. There were some rookie learning experiences at the hands of Fowles, Wilson and Nneka. Her defense will get better. And her teammates need to start looking for her on the break because she was open for some long passes and easy layups.

Hailey Jones received her first playing time. She did a little bit of everything in her fifteen minutes. There was one sequence where she attacked the middle, stepped back to draw the defender then bounced a pass to Fran for the easy layup.

Speaking of Fran. She had more fouls(5) than points(4) in her nine minutes of play. Talk about a learning opportunity. Several of her fouls were simply over exuberance. Another foul came on a contested layup. There was no way the ball was going in. The foul bailed the player out. Fran will get better at defending and it will be fun to watch.

Anna Wilson continues to show great hustle and savvy defense. Hannah shot well from all over the court. Oh, all the freshmen are a combined 7-7 in free throw shooting over two games!

Jenna has been watching Kiana. She did the fake pass/look move to freeze the defender and drive to the basket for an easy layup.

Really nice moment towards the end of the game when Nneka came out for the last time, standing ovation from the crowd, hugs and high fives from the Stanford coaches and players. Even the refs were clapping.

There should be some good media stories about this game because Ann Killion, Michelle Smith and Mechelle Voepel were all in attendance.

Everybody played. Nobody got hurt. The stats count starting Tuesday.

Go Card!