Chiney Ogwumike Paces Stanford Over Texas In Opener
AUSTIN, Texas (CBS / AP) -- Chiney Ogwumike shrugged off early foul trouble with 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 5 Stanford to a 72-59 win over No. 24 Texas on Friday night.
Ogwumike scored 12 points in the second half for the Cardinal, who overcame some early ragged shooting to post their 11th consecutive season-opening win. The Cardinal have advanced to the previous four Final Fours.
Stanford played without Chiney's older sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike, a preseason All-American forward who was held out of the game with an upper body injury. Nnemkadi was on the bench but not in uniform.
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The sisters are Houston natives and the game marked their return to the same court where they won Texas state high school championships.
Chassidy Fussell scored 17 points to lead Texas (0-1).
Stanford freshman guard Amber Orrange, another Houston native, scored 14 points in her Cardinal debut and Joslyn Tinkle scored 14.
Texas had just eight players available. Brady Sanders, Chelsea Bass and Tiffany Moore were held out because of various medical and injury problems and Ronisha Major was announced as out indefinitely for unspecified conduct unbecoming of a Texas student athlete.
Chiney Ogwumike picked up her first foul in in the first minute and spent much of the first half of the bench.
Having the Ogwumikes on the bench opened up the floor for Texas center Cokie Reed, who bulled her way to eight points and five rebounds in the first half. Reed missed last season due to surgery on her right foot, but was nimble and agile in the post when she got the ball and kept the Longhorns close.
Orrange picked up the scoring for the Cardinal in the first half, pumping in 12 points to send Stanford to a 35-30 lead at halftime.
Stanford quickly pushed its lead to 10 early in the second half behind Chiney Ogwumike's 3-point play on a nifty spin over Reed and a drop-in runner by Taylor Greenfield.
Texas trimmed the lead to 53-48 before Toni Kokekis made her second 3-pointer of the second half, Chiney Ogwumike had a putback and Orrange finished a block and steal from Cassie Peoples to coast in for an easy layup that put Stanford up 61-50 with just under 8 minutes to play. The Cardinal nursed that lead the rest of the way.
Stanford held Reed in check in the second half, allowing her just three points. The Longhorns also got no offensive production from 6-foot-4 senior center Ashley Gayle, who had eight rebounds and four blocks but not points.
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