Utah guard Gianna Kneepkens, on the watch list for national player of the year and shown in the background picture above, is out for the season following a foot injury suffered Saturday.
Utah coach Roberts said in a press release that the “entire program is devastated for Gianna”. I’m a grain of sand in the scheme of things, but that includes me.
I gave myself the job of writing what I observe in Pac-12 women’s basketball. Roberts said “we’ll persevere and our goals are still achievable”, and she would remind me that we’ve been through worse.
On their way to Connecticut for the Hall of Fame showcase, the Utes pause in Philadelphia Thursday to visit St. Joseph’s. We still have jobs to do.
Stanford 78
Gonzaga 96
With Stanford’s Cameron Brink out with illness and Kiki Iriafen benched with foul trouble, host Gonzaga beat the no. 2 Cardinal 96-78 Sunday.
Credit Gonzaga with playing as hard as if Stanford were at full strength. Forward Yvonne Ejim put up 27 and 12, and won the West Coast Conference award as player of the week.
Shooter Brynna Maxwell had 16 points at half on the way to a career best 27 — Brynna has always been one of my favorite players, though her best year at Utah was as a freshman. After that, she was a focus of defensive attention — had she managed to play at her Sunday level consistently, she’d still be in Salt Lake.
The Bulldogs and their backers were overjoyed — Gonzaga cracked the top 25 — while I’d lost interest in the game after Brink put on her warmups.
San Diego 58
Southern Cal 89
USC coach Gottlieb’s 2013 team at Cal included four WNBA players and reached the national semifinals. I swear this Trojans group is scarier than that great Cal team was.
The Trojans are huge. Three starters are at least 6-foot-2, and at times look that wide. They were so much bigger than the Toreros that I was reminded of grade school games in which teams are formed by grade level.
USC plays with chips on their shoulders, and they’re fast enough to run after made baskets.
USC wing JuJu Watkins was the high school player of the year, and etch her name on the Pac-12 top freshman trophy now. Watkins had 30 pt, 8 rb, 5 as. All-conference forward Rayah Marshall put up 20 and 12, plus 4 blocks (one of the best defenders in the country).