By Tony Solorzano
(Los Angeles) – A combined 53 points from the Ogwumike sisters propelled Stanford to another berth in the Pacific Life Pac-10 Women’s Tournament with a 100-71 victory over Arizona Friday afternoon at Staples Center.
It was almost a foregone conclusion even before the ball was tipped that the Cardinal (26-2) would advance to their 10th straight tournament final, and despite a Herculean effort by the Wildcats (21-11), they dropped their seventh straight tournament matchup to the Stanford women. However, Cardinal Head coach Tara Van Derveer had nothing but praise for her counterpart, Wildcats head coach Niya Butts.
“I want to compliment Niya Butts and Arizona on a great season, and I hope they’re able to play in the NCAA,” Van Derveer said after the game. “They have some really terrific players and we got them on their third game in three days and I thought they did a really good job.”
Stanford got off to a fast start building up a 15-5 lead after five and a half minutes in the first. Both Nnemkadi and Chiney Ogwumike scored in double figures in the first, combining for 36 of Stanford’s 45 first half points, and Chiney already earned a double-double in the half with her 11 rebounds in the half.
The second played out much like the first, with the Cardinal seemingly scoring at will throughout the half. Stanford built a 38-point lead late in the game, before Ify Ibekwe put down six points to help the Wildcats close the gap somewhat as time expired.
Nnemkadi Ogwumike led all scorers with 32 points and 10 rebounds, while Chiney finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Soana Lucet led the Wildcats with 17 points. Lucet, a senior, acknowledged the sisters were tough to play.
“The sisters are like – they’re really, really big and big post players,” Lucet said after the game. It was pretty tough, the outcome didn’t go like we wanted but we still went hard and tried our best.”
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