Xavier Battles, Stanford Too Much

By Kyle Soppe

CINCINNATI, OH — When Xavier hosted Stanford in a rematch of an Elite Eight match up of a year ago, the general consensus was that the more experienced visitors would impose their will upon the relativity green home team. Such a thought, however, was disproved, as Xavier gave Stanford fits for most of the night. The Ogwumike sisters are nationally recognized, and they didn’t disappoint, but this years Xavier team is not one to be taken lightly.

The Musketeers looked every part the defending A-10 champion that they are against a powerhouse Stanford Cardinal team. An early scoring outburst by arguably the nations top player put Stanford ahead early, but Xavier stood their ground and battled to within a point at the half. Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored eight consecutive points, leading Stanford to a four point advantage, and the preseason John Wooden Award nominee seemed poised to put on a show.

The front court of Xavier was not to be out done in the early going, as Amber Gray and Jessica Pachko delivered impressive first halves. In addition to holding Ogwumike to only three points after her sizzling start, the duo scored 11 points of their own. Pachko fought tooth and nail for every loose ball with the ferocious Cardinal front line, collecting seven rebounds in the games first 20 minutes. Gray responded to a double team by finding open teammates who would initiate the offense. Her brilliant cross court skip pass, out of a double team, set up a wide open Ashley Wanninger to put XU up 28-27 late in the first half.

The guard play was also very strong for Xavier, with senior guard Tyeasha Moss leading the defense while Lynette Holmes attacked on the offensive end. Moss, the teams lone returner, recorded three steals, all of which lead to points in transition. Holmes continually took the ball to the rim by breaking down the Stanford defenders off of the bounce. This created opportunities, as the shot blockers were drawn away from the basket. For her aggression, Holmes earned seven free throw attempts in her 17 , minutes of action. A 43% free throw shooter on the season, she buried all of them. As a team, the Musketeers made all 11 of their attempts from the charity stripe.

Ogwumike, however, would establish herself as a dominate force once again, as the teams emerged from the locker rooms. As the clear focal point of the precise  Stanford motion offense, Ogwumike poured in 10 quick points before the 16 minute media timeout. Her one player run was concluded by a highlight reel over the shoulder grab in transition, courtesy of Lindy La Rocque, to increase the Cardinal advantage to 48-39. The second half surge continued, in large part to Chiney Ogwumike. The sophomore stud scored four quick points off of errant shots, to give Stanford its first double digit lead of the afternoon.

But Xavier again bounced back, with its shortest player doing the heavy lifting. Shatyra Hawks, a crowd favorite and clear emotional leader, nearly tore a whole in the netting, as she rained in a mix of ceiling scraping floaters and deep bombs. With 9:21 remaining in the game, she had scored 10 of Xavier’s last 12 points, trimming the deficit to 56-50.

But that was as close as Xavier would get. Four of Nnemkadi Ogwumike’s game high 34 points pushed the lead to double digits, and provided Stanford with the comfort level they needed. Lynette Holmes hit a pull a jumper, two of her career high 18 points, in a last attempt to pull Xavier back. But a deep three from Taylor Greenfield all but finished off the scrappy Musketeers. The final margin, 80-64, was not indicative of how well Xavier competed with the nation’s third best team.

Xavier can point to two statistics when looking for how to improve: turnovers and rebounding. The Cardinal out rebounded the Musketeers by 17, and took 24 more shots due to 20 turnovers from Xavier. No team can expect to beat a team of any caliber, let alone the nation’s elite, with such a discrepancy in two key categories. The bump in the road hurts, but there was good to be taken from this defeat.

“This proves that we can compete against anybody in the country” commented starting guard Shatyra Hawkes, who scored a career high 15 points on 5/11 shooting. She also added five assists in a team high 39 minutes. First year Head Coach Amy Waugh was disappointed with the loss, but optimistic about her team’s potential down the road: “It’s a process, a long process and a long season. I am proud of how my girls fought today”. Xavier was picked to finish sixth in the A-10 this year, but it is hard to imagine that there are five teams who will battle more than this Xavier squad.

Xavier will host South Carolina on Wednesday, hoping to rebound in a big way.