Feb. 9, 2013
Game #24
No. 4/5 Stanford Cardinal (21-2, 10-1 Pac-12)
- vs. -
Arizona State Sun Devils (11-12, 3-8 Pac-12)
Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013 - 2 p.m. PT
Maples Pavilion (7,233) - Stanford, Calif.
Series History: Stanford leads 53-11
Last Meeting: March 9, 2012 (Stanford 52, Arizona State 43) - Los Angeles, Calif.
TV: Pac-12 Networks (P-x-P: Krista Blunk, Analyst: Mary Murphy)
Webcast: None
Radio: 90.1 KZSU (P-x-P: Preston Chin, Analyst: Ashley Westhem)
Game Notes vs. Arizona State 
STANFORD, Calif. - No. 4/5 Stanford closes out the weekend visit from the desert schools Sunday afternoon with a 2 p.m. tip against Arizona State. Sunday's contest, Stanford's "Pink" game in support of breast cancer research and awareness, will be televised on the Pac-12 Network with Krista Blunk and Mary Murphy on the call, and on the radio at 90.1 KZSU and http://kzsulive.stanford.edu with Preston Chin and Ashley Westhem on the call.
Last Time Out
Stanford captured its seventh straight win Friday night, cruising past Arizona 73-43. Chiney Ogwumike posted her 17th straight double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds while forward Mikaela Ruef registered the first double-double of her career, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Joslyn Tinkle went 3-for-4 from behind the arc and scored 15 points, all in the second half to help Stanford widen its advantage and capture the win. Stanford out-rebounded the Wildcats 47-28 in the contest and the defense matched its season high with 11 steals led by three apiece from Jasmine Camp and Amber Orrange. Friday's win was also Stanford's 22nd in a row against Arizona.
About Arizona State
Arizona State (11-12, 3-8 Pac-12), like Arizona, makes its first visit to Stanford since January 2011, as the change in Pac-12 scheduling resulted in the Sun Devils also not making the trip to Northern California last year. The Sun Devils, with head coach Charli Turner Thorne in her first season back at the helm following a one-year sabbatical, are led by the play of Janae Fulcher (11.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Promise Amukamara (7.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg).
Against Arizona State
Stanford leads the all-time series with Arizona State, 53-11, and has won 13 straight against the Sun Devils, most recently a 52-43 decision in last year's Pac-12 Tournament semifinal round.
Stanford In The National Polls
Stanford remained at No. 4 in this week's Associated Press Poll and at No. 5 in the USA Today Sports Coaches' Poll.
In The Pac-12 Statistics
Through Feb. 8, Stanford ranked in the top three of 13 statistical categories amongst Pac-12 schools: scoring defense (52.7 ppg - first), scoring margin (+17.8 - first), field-goal percentage (46.7 - first), field-goal percentage defense (32.2 - first), 3-point field-goal percentage defense (23.7 - first), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.15 - first), scoring offense (70.4 ppg - second), free-throw percentage (70.0 - second), assists (14.22 apg - second), blocked shots (4.70 bpg - second), defensive rebounds (30.0 drpg - second), 3-point field-goal percentage (33.8 - third) and rebounding defense (34.0 rpg - third). Individually, Chiney Ogwumike leads the conference in scoring (22.2 ppg) and double-doubles (18), is second in rebounding (12.3 rpg) and field-goal percentage (58.3), and fourth with 1.48 blocks per game. Senior forward Joslyn Tinkle is sixth in the conference with a 50.6 field-goal percentage and third with a 37.1 3-point field-goal percentage, and third with 1.74 blocks per game. Amber Orrange is third in the Pac-12 with a 1.49 assist-to-turnover ratio and fourth with 4.26 assists per game.
Keeping An Eye On The Bye
Friday night's win over Arizona dropped Stanford's magic number to three to clinch a first-round bye at the Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament, set to be held at Seattle's Key Arena from March 7-10. The top four teams on the Pac-12 table earn byes into March 8's quarterfinal round, and entering Sunday Stanford and California, tied atop the table with matching 10-1 records, are four games ahead of fifth-place Colorado (6-5). Any combination of Stanford wins and Colorado, Washington State (5-6) or USC (5-6) losses adding up to three over the final seven games of the Pac-12 slate clinches a bye for Stanford.
Stanford's Battling Buckeye
Ohio, the perennial battleground state in presidential elections, is the home state of one of Stanford's most determined battlers on the court, redshirt junior Mikaela Ruef. In Friday night's 73-43 win over Arizona, Ruef grinded her way to her first career double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The performance continued a career year for the Beavercreek, Ohio native, one in which she fought her way into the starting lineup Nov. 16 against then-No. 1/1 Baylor, where she grabbed 12 rebounds in Stanford's 71-69 win in Honolulu. She has started 16 games this season and ranks second on the team with 6.0 rebounds per game, third with 40 assists and 15 blocks, and after Friday has thrice recorded double-digit rebounds in a game this year, topping out with a career-best 13 against Pacific on Dec. 15.
She'll Beat You With A Smile
Bouncing back from a brief hiccup last Sunday where she scored just two points on 1-for-8 shooting at Oregon State, senior forward Joslyn Tinkle went 6-for-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the arc for 15 second-half points Friday against Arizona. The performance was the Missoula, Mont. native's sixth 15-point effort over Stanford's past seven games, and it's been no coincidence that Tinkle's 3-point field-goal percentages have risen as high as her point totals. Over the past seven games Tinkle is shooting a scorching 59.1 percent (13-for-22) from behind the arc, accounting for 13 of Stanford's 40 3-pointers over that span, as the Cardinal is shooting a collective 37.4 percent (40-for-107).
Camp, Orrange Head Up The Speedy, Aggressive Defense
During Friday night's game Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer went with a small back court, playing sophomores Amber Orrange and Jasmine Camp side-by-side. The speedy combo paid off in grand fashion on the defensive end as the pair made three steals apiece to pace Stanford's season high-matching 11-steal effort, and helped harass Arizona's perimeter shooters into a 1-for-14 3-point performance. Orrange, who leads the Cardinal with 36 steals this year, also scored six points with four assists while Camp, who returned this season from a stress fracture in her foot that curtailed her 2011-12 season two Decembers ago, passed out a pair of assists and grabbed a few rebounds on the defensive end.
Another Day, Another Double-Double For Ogwumike
In news that can now be filed under "The Sun Rose In The East" and "Andrew Luck Wins Football Games" junior forward Chiney Ogwumike posted yet another double-double for the Cardinal Friday night. The Cypress, Texas native and one of the leading candidates for national player of the year honors scored 18 points with 12 rebounds for her seventh straight double-double and 18th of the season, leading the Pac-12 and ranking in the top five nationally. On the year, Ogwumike is the only player in the country to rank in the national top 10 in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage entering the weekend.
Ogwumike Thrives Against Top-25 Competition
Junior forward and consensus national player of the year candidate Chiney Ogwumike played her ninth game of the season against a Top-25 team in Jan. 27's 69-56 win over No. 20/23 Colorado. So far this season, in which Ogwumike is in the national top seven in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage, and third with 15 double-doubles, she has turned up her performance over the nine games against Top-25 teams, averaging 20.8 points and 11.8 rebounds while shooting 54.0 percent.
Stanford's February Winning Streak
Friday night's 73-43 win over Arizona extended a Stanford streak unknown to many, as it was the Cardinal's 49th straight win in the month of February. This winning streak during the year's second month has been vital to Stanford's capturing the conference regular season titles over the past five years, making the Cardinal unbeatable down the stretch. The last time Stanford lost a game in February was a 72-57 loss to California on Feb. 4, 2007.
