No. 9 Stanford women punish rival Cal 78-51 in Pac-12 opener

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Kiki Iriafen with the hoop and harm in Stanford's win

Kiki Iriafen with the hoop & harm, 12/29/2023

Dec 30, 2023, 01:19 am

BERKELEY, Calif. -- — Talana Lepolo scored a career-high 20 points with six 3-pointers, Kiki Iriafen had 16 points and 10 rebounds and the No. 9 Stanford women won their third straight game by beating California 78-51 on Friday in the Pac-12 opener for both teams.

Lepolo, whose previous high in scoring was 17 nearly a year ago, was 7 of 11 for the game, connecting on six of her 10 attempts beyond the arc. That provided a big boost for the Cardinal (11-1) while leading scorer Cameron Brink was mired in foul trouble much of the game. Brink had 13 points and seven rebounds.

“Today belonged to Talana and Kiki, inside-outside,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “These two, playing the way they’re playing, it was awesome.”

Lepolo got an early jump on the day and was hoisting up shot after shot at Maples Pavilion two hours before boarding the bus for the short trip across the San Francisco Bay. It’s a regular part of Lepolo’s pregame ritual and she wanted to keep the routine going.

It clearly paid off.

Lepolo is the first Stanford player to make six 3s and have six assists in the same game since Jeanette Pohlen in 2010. Her big night against Cal came after she passed up a few open shots and had an early turnover.

“My rhythm was off in the beginning,” Lepolo said. “I was more so thinking I can get the ball to my other players. Then (coach Tara VanDerveer) kind of checked me and said, ‘If I’m not aggressive then they won’t guard me.’ So I just let one fly.”

Ioanna Krimili, in her first game back since suffering a meniscus injury, was the only Cal player in double figures. She scored 12 points. The Bears (10-3) shot 26.5% from the floor (18 of 68) and finished 4 of 31 on 3-point attempts.

“Unfortunately we continued to miss shots the entire game,” said California coach Charmin Smith. “You’re not going to beat Stanford shooting 12% from 3 and 20-something percent from the field, no matter what we were doing defensively. We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

Stanford was ahead 63-37 following back-to-back three-point plays from Iriafen early in the fourth quarter. Lepolo’s sixth 3-pointer extended Stanford’s lead to 70-41.

Stanford has won 10 straight against its Northern California rivals.

CHASING HISTORY

VanDerveer, already the all-time leader in women’s college basketball with 1,197 victories, needs six more wins to slip past Mike Krzyzewski’s record of 1,202 to become the winningest coach in college basketball history.

UP NEXT

Stanford: Hosts Morgan State on Sunday.

California: Hosts Washington on Jan. 5.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball