Cameron Brink’s 23 points, 15 rebounds lead No. 9 Stanford past Portland 81-51

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Tara VanDerveer challenged Cameron Brink to stay on the court and out of foul trouble — and Stanford needed every bit of what the star senior delivered on both ends.

Brink had 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, and the ninth-ranked Cardinal pulled away in the third quarter to bounce back from their lone defeat this season with an 81-51 win against Portland on Friday night.

Brink shot 6 for 9, converted 11 of 13 free throws and also dished out four assists, while Brooke Demetre added 10 points and a pair of assists off the bench as Stanford (9-1) returned to the court for its first game after a two-week break for final exams. The Cardinal lost 96-78 at Gonzaga on Dec. 3 then were challenged for a half by another West Coast Conference opponent.

“I finished well but Brooke had some really stellar passes to me, threading the needle. No one else can find me like she does,” Brink said. “It was good to play against a defense like that, it’s unorthodox, it’s kind of weird.”

Stanford second-leading scorer Kiki Iriafen also struggled with fouls.

“I was really proud of Cam for staying in the game and not picking up a third foul,” VanDerveer said. “We’re really a whole different team when both Cam and Kiki are in foul trouble. If we’re ahead and they get two they’re coming out.”

VanDerveer, the Hall of Fame coach in her 45th college season and 38th at Stanford, notched her 1,195th career victory to move within eight of passing Mike Krzyzewski’s 1,202 to become the winningest coach in the men’s or women’s college games.

In another milestone pursuit, Hannah Jump made three more 3-pointers to tie Kiana Williams’ program-record of 311. Williams played 4,336 career minutes, while Hannah Jump is now at 3,042.

“We’re really glad Hannah’s back for her COVID year,” VanDerveer said. “First of all, she’s really improved. She’s in great shape.”

Emme Shearer scored 12 points to lead Portland (6-6), which was coming off a 68-63 overtime win against UTEP.

The Cardinal improved to 6-0 at home and has won all four meetings between the programs, including 87-47 last season.

After missing its first shot of the game Stanford hit 10 in a row to go ahead 24-8. But the Cardinal then went cold in an eight-point second quarter, shooting 2 for 14 and missing its last eight for a 36-25 halftime lead.

SWAT TEAM

The game featured two of the nation’s top shot blockers — Brink and Portland senior Lucy Cochrane, a 6-foot-6 grad student from Australia who came in averaging an NCAA-best 4.36 blocks per game and finished with just one to push her season total to 49. Brink has 34 and is the nation’s active career leader with 331.

BIG PICTURE

Iriafen, averaging 17.1 points coming into the game, played just under 6 minutes in the first half because of two fouls. She wound up with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Stanford — which shot 2 for 11 from deep in the first half and was 0 of 5 in the second quarter to finish 4 of 22 on 3-pointers — hasn’t lost consecutive non-conference games since Dec. 18 and 21, 2017, to Western Illinois and No. 7 Tennessee.

Portland coach Michael Meek was whistled for a technical foul late in the third. Stanford scored 15 points off the Pilots’ 15 turnovers.

UP NEXT

Portland: Hosts Willamette on Sunday having won the last 10 in the series while going 7-0 at home.

Stanford: Hosts UC Davis on Wednesday afternoon.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball