Stanford too much for Norfolk State in NCAA Tournament opener

STANFORD — When it was over and Stanford had put a 79-50 beating on Norfolk State Friday night in their first game of the NCAA Women’s Tournament, coach Tara VanDerveer was more than pleased with the end result even as she’s got plenty of coaching points to stress before they play again.

The Cardinal had 14 turnovers “but it felt like 40.”  Stanford had nine 3-point baskets but she thought it could have been more.

“We had some good looks that didn’t go down,” VanDerveer said.

And although the outcome was never in doubt, Norfolk State’s pressing style, something Stanford doesn’t see often in the Pac-12, had the Cardinal looking out of sync.

“I thought our team honestly played a little tight tonight,” VanDerveer said. “They understand the pressure and feel like, `We’re supposed to win this game and we’ve got to play well and the other team came out looser. Maybe we loosened up at halftime. I just said, let’s have fun and play, don’t put pressure on yourselves.”

The pressure increases exponentially for Stanford (29-5) when it hosts No. 7 Iowa State (21-11) at a time to be determined. The Cyclones overcame a 21-point deficit in a 93-86 win over No. 10 Maryland (19-14) behind a 40-point outburst from freshman center Audi Crooks.

It was at this point a year ago when the Cardinal, the No. 1 seed, routed Sacred Heart in its opener and then were stunned by No. 8 Mississippi 55-49, trudging off their home floor with a loss helped provide more of a one-for-all, all-for-one attitude that has served Stanford well in support of twin posts Cameron Brink and Kiki Ireafen.

Brink and Ireafen more than lived up to the hype against the Spartans, who had no answers for what Stanford could do inside in terms of scoring, defending and reounding.

Brink had 17 points, 15 rebounds and blocked six shots in 24:28 of playing time. Iriafen also had 17 points — 15 in the first half and had nine rebounds.  Iriafen broke the 1,000-point barrier for her career in the first half. She shrugged off a two-point second-half as simply watching her teammates do the heavy lifting.

“I think my teammates took over,” Iriafen said. “It was their time to shine. Tara always says it’s someone’s game. Elenna was shot, Cameron was hot, Hannah was hot. I was trying to do other things.”

VanDerveer was delighted to get two other scorers in double figures in Elena Bosgana, who had a career-high 18 points and was 4-for-6 from 3-point land, and senior wing Hannah Jump, who had 13 points and was also 4-for-6 from behind the arc.

Norfolk State Larry Vickers knew what he was up against with Brink. As for Iriafen, the 6-foot-3 forward who blossomed into a star, it came as a surprise.

“She is so good,” Vickers said. “I had no clue she was that good.”

Whatever Stanford was missing on occasion in terms of offensive cohesion was made up for on the defensive end, with Norfolk State shooting just 30.9 percent and 1-for-12 from 3-point land. The Cardinal, smarting from a 48-28 rebounding disadvantage in their Pac-12 Tournament title game loss against USC, had a 45-35 advantage on the boards against the Spartans.

Stanford made life difficult for Diamond Johnson, the 5-foot-5 guard and leading scorer who scored 19 points but was harassed into a 7-for-24 shooting night including 0-for-8 on 3-point attempts. Kierra Wheeler, attempting to do battle with the Brink-Iriafen combo inside, was 8-for-23 and scored 17 points.

Talana Lepolo, the Stanford point guard who has struggled with her shooting of late, was scoreless but in her 31 minutes helped push Johnson into exhaustion, with the Spartans’ guard departing for a time in the fourth quarter with leg cramps.

Stanford took its biggest lead through three quarters on the last basket of the quarter with Elena Bosgana scoring on a fastbreak off an outlet pass from Brink.

Iriafen converted a driving layup a split-second before the halftime buzzer to give Stanford a 32-19 lead.

The junior post had 15 points and seven rebounds in the first half, with Stanford enjoying a 23-16 advantage on the boards. Brink had eight points before departing with 4:41 left in the half after picking up her second foul. She also had nine rebounds as any quickness advantage enjoyed by Norfolk State was more than offset by Stanford’s length and inside prowess.

Johnson led the Spartans with nine points and four rebounds at the half and was 4-for-11 shooting while being shadowed by the Cardinal’s Talana Lepolo.

An Iriafen basket gave Stanford its first double-digit lead at 22-12 with 7:53 left in the half.

Stanford led 15-12 after the first quarter but wasn’t particularly impressive, turning the ball over six times but outrebounding the Spartans 11-6. Iriafen had five points for Stanford, with Brink adding four. Johnson had six points for Norfolk State, which had five first-half steals.

Iowa State 93, Maryland 86

The No. 10 Terrapins (19-14) got off to a torrid start and led by as many as 21 points in the first half, but couldn’t contend with Cyclones freshman center Crooks in the second half. The win for No. 7 Iowa State (21-11) was the second-biggest comeback in women’s NCAA Tournament history.

Crooks scored a game-high 40 points on 18-for-20 shooting and added 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. She had 22 points in the second half, making all 10 of her shots as her Iowa State teammates delivered the ball to hear near the basket. Guard Emily Ryan had 18 points for the Cyclones.

Maryland jumped to a 33-20 first-quarter lead and hit six of its first seven 3-point shots, but were 5-for-17 for the remainder of the game. Allie Kubek never did cool off for Maryland, finishing with 29 points including 10 of 12 from the floor and 7-for-8 on 3-point shots.