Preview: Stanford Women’s Basketball heads to Provo to battle BYU
On Thursday at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN+, Stanford women’s basketball will face BYU on the road in Provo, Utah in the quarterfinals of the WBIT. Stanford is the two seed in their region while BYU is the one seed. Stanford comes in at 21-13 overall (8-10 in the ACC) while BYU comes in at 24-11 overall (9-9 in the Big XII).
Last time out: Stanford defeated Quinnipiac on Sunday by a final score of 81-69. Stanford freshman Alexandra Eschmeyer had a career-high 18 points.
RECAP: Stanford Women’s Basketball defeats Quinnipiac to advance in WBIT
On BYU: The Cougars barely missed the NCAA tournament, losing to TCU in the Big XII tournament 63-46 after getting wins over Houston (76-66) and their rival Utah (70-52). In the WBIT, they’ve been dominant, defeating Alabama A&M in the first round 72-47 and Missouri in the second round 93-75. They clearly are hungry to win this title.
The Cougars are led by sophomore guard Delaney Gibb, who is averaging 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2.0 steals per game on 38.5% shooting from the field, 33.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 78.5% shooting from the foul line. In their most recent win over Missouri, she scored a season-high 29 points. Her career-high was dropping 36 points on Utah last season in an overtime road loss. She can get buckets.
The other player scoring in double figures for the Cougars is freshman guard Olivia Hamlin, who is averaging 12.5 points and 1.8 steals per game on 40.1% shooting from the field, 29.4% shooting from 3-point range, and 68.4% shooting from the foul line. She tied a career-high 23 points in the win over Missouri and has multiple 20+ point games this season. So she too can heat up.
Keys to the game: The first thing Stanford needs to do is contain Gibb and Hamlin. If they can keep both players at or below their scoring averages, that would go a long ways towards winning this game. If they both go off, BYU will almost certainly win. If one of them goes off, the Cougars at a minimum will have the edge. It is really imperative Stanford contains both players.
Secondly, Courtney Ogden and Nunu Agara need to have a strong outings. They’re the top two players on this team, Agara averaging 15.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game and Ogden averaging 12.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. If those two get rolling, Stanford will definitely have a chance.
Finally, Stanford needs to be wise in their shot selection. Sometimes their shot selection hasn’t been the best in terms of settling for threes when they should attack the rim. That sort of thing. If Stanford is taking good shots, they’ll have a chance to win this game.
Prediction: Stanford is ranked higher in the NET while BYU is at home. This is one that could go either way. I’ll give BYU a slight edge because they’re at home. 80-76 Cougars.
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