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Stanford WBB v Ohio St. What I saw, from where I sat.

Fans filing into Maples Pavilion first look to see if any of the walking wounded are dressed out. DiJonai and Maya are the two players we look for. Not only where they still in sweats but so was Lacie, she in a walking boot. Mikaela is out of her walking boot but also still in sweats. These are my random thoughts and observations:

Ohio St. is very guard centric. You do that when you don't have bigs. Tara started Ki, Lexie, Haley, Alyssa and Nadia. Many fans were wondering why Ashten didn't start or receive much playing time and I think this was a matchup issue.

The first game back after two weeks off is always a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. The game started off with Stanford attacking down low with Nadia. The defensive intensity was high, clogging lanes and stepping into passes, led by Lexie: 7 steals. The theme for this game however was turnovers. As in way too many. Attribute it to rust if you will but still, too many. You would expect a certain amount from your freshman and that's fine but not from Ki. She received an earful from Tara after her 5th of the game.

Speaking of Ki, in the past when she comes out of games our offense has stalled. She came out of this game at 7:52 of the second period and returned at 3:45. The combo of Hailey and Anna led Stanford to out score Ohio St. 12-5. That was very encouraging. We saw Hailey drive to score and shoot the pull up jumper to score. Versatile is the word Tara used and I see no reason to change that.

There is nothing sweeter than a well executed bounce pass to a teammate cutting to the basket. We were treated to one from Anna to a cutting Kiana. It was beautiful.

Ki and Lexie drive the tempo and that is very much to Stanford's advantage. You can see the drop off when one or both are not on the floor. Speaking of the floor, there is Lexie diving for loose balls again. How unusual.

Entry lobs are still a working progress to Fran. Once the team has that figured out, the offense will enter the realm of scary. Fran has the rip move to attack the basket and is good around the rim. Add posting up or lob entry and look out.

Tara is always teaching. We saw on several occasions where she got up and spoke to players about what just occurred on the court. It has been fun to watch the development of this squad.

The depth on this team is very evident and is now being tested with four players out. The freshmen are stepping up and contributing. Three of the four freshmen have already been leading scorers in a game and Fran is not one of them. In my last post I mentioned the eight games Stanford has played with seven different leading scorers. Here they are: Ashten, Lexie, Lacie, Kiana, Hannah, Nadia and Hailey. With this game, Hailey joins Lexie as a two time leading scorer. And DiJonai is not even on this list. Hopefully she will. They will need her because the challenges will only get harder from here.

Go Card!

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