Lara Somfai nabs third ACC Rookie of the Week honors
On Monday, December 29th, Stanford women’s basketball freshman Lara Somfai picked up her third ACC Rookie of the Week award of the season. The day prior against Cornell, Somfai had nine points and a career-high 18 rebounds. That’s the most rebounds by a Stanford freshman since Kaylee Johnson pulled down 22 against Santa Clara in 2014.
RECAP: Stanford Women’s Basketball cruises past Cornell to end non-conference play
On the season, Somfai is averaging 11.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game, almost a double-double. Her shooting numbers need to improve as she is just 42.2% from the field, 22.0% from 3-point range, and a respectable 70.0% from the foul line. Once she gets better at shooting, she’s going to be even more of a challenge for opposing teams to face.
Going back to her rebounding, Somfai is one of the best rebounding freshmen in the nation. And in truth, she’s one of the best rebounders in the nation period. Regardless of class. That’s a testament to her work ethic. She reminds me of another great rebounding forward I covered across The Bay at Cal in Kristine Anigwe, who averaged 20.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game as a freshman before going on to average 22.5 points, a whopping 16.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game as a senior. I see no reason why Somfai can’t strive to put up similar numbers come her senior year. She’s got that level of talent.
“I think Lara really prides herself on rebounding,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said of Somfai after the win over Cornell. “That’s something that is really really important to her. She has great instincts for the ball. She obviously has a big strong physical body and a lot of determination and that’s a lot of rebounds [18 for the game]. She kind of, turkey, turkey. She gobbles them up.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at NC State on New Year’s Day at 11:00 AM PT on ACC Network as ACC play now begins in full force. Stanford at the moment is 12-2 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, defeating Cal at Maples Pavilion earlier in the month.
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