BY BILL LAMBERTY, Montana State Sports Information
STANFORD, California – Stanford scored the game’s first 23 points and never looked back, beating 16th seeded Montana State 78-37 in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament First Round on Friday.
The top-seeded Cardinal led MSU 20-0 after the first quarter then Hannah Jump hit a three-pointer to open the second quarter before Bobcat forward Taylor Janssen’s jumper got the Bobcats on the board. At that point the Bobcats were shooting 1-22 from the floor while Stanford was 7-15.
“It was, honestly, really relieving because we were like, we finally got on the board,” Janssen said of watching her shot go in. “That’s the hump we needed to get over. And once we got those points, I think we felt a little more comfortable and weren’t as scared, I guess you could say. Once we got over that hump we could relax a little bit more and feel more confident that our next shot was going in.”
Stanford led from wire to wire, and while the Montana State offense never got going the team’s defense provided some bright spots The Cats held Stanford to 45% shooting, and turned the Cardinal over 16 times.
One of the game’s highlights came in the first quarter, when Stanford’s Francesca Belibi came up with a steal in the Bobcats front court, strided down the floor and dunked on a fast break.
“No, that was a first. I remember it happened and I just turned to Ashley, and I was like, well, I don’t really know where to go from here,” Janssen said. “Let’s get ourselves back on offense and try and bounce back off of that. That was interesting. That was the first time that’s ever happened or that I’ve ever been in a game where someone dunked. It was really cool.”
Stat highlights abounded for Stanford. Cameron Brink scored 11 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and blocked four shots. Jump led all players with 15 points on five three-pointers. Lexie Hull scored 13 points and doled out five assists.
Janssen scored 12 points to lead the Cats, while Beattie snared five boards. Ashley Van Sickle dished out three assists.
Montana State’s season ends at 22-13 after the team won the Big Sky Tournament to advance to the NCAA Championships. Stanford is 29-3 and plays Kansas on Sunday.
