First With Virginia Tech

THE GAME: Coming off a weekend sweep at home, Stanford begins its final regular-season road trip when it plays at Virginia Tech on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. ET. Angel Gray and Christy Winters Scott have the call on ACC Network, while Tim Swartz will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com and the Stanford Athletics app.

THE RUNDOWN: Chloe Clardy’s 12 assists against Syracuse were the most by a Cardinal since 2016 and are tied for the sixth most in program history ... Stanford was a perfect 15-for-15 from the line in the Jan. 30 win over Pitt, a program record for makes without a miss ...  The Cardinal is 17th in the nation in 3-point percentage (.368) ... Nunu Agara has increased her scoring by 10.5 points and her rebounding by 4.7 boards from her freshman year ... Tess Heal is the only major conference guard in the country making more than 50 percent of her field goals (.529) and 3-pointers (.517) with a minimum of one 3-pointer made per game ... Against Florida State, Elena Bosgana became the second DI player this season with 21 points, 15 rebounds and six assists ... Over the past eight games, freshmen and sophomores have combined to score 315 of Stanford’s 517 points (60.9 percent) ... Stanford’s 2025 recruiting class, featuring three five-star talents and two four-stars, is ranked No. 3 nationally by espnW HoopGurlz ... On Jan. 27, it was announced that signees Alex Eschmeyer, Lara Somfai and Hailee Swain will participate in the 2025 McDonald’s All American Game ... Of the 24 women selected, Stanford and Tennessee have the most players suiting up next fall with three commits each.

VS. VIRGINIA TECH: Thursday’s first-ever meeting with the Hokies will be the Cardinal’s sixth game in the state of Virginia, but first outside the city of Norfolk, where the program is 3-2 all-time. Stanford’s most recent trip was when it started its 2012 Final Four run with two wins at the Ted Constant Convocation Center against Hampton on March 17 (73-51) and West Virginia on March 19 (72-55). The Cardinal lost to Maine 60-58 in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament on March 12 in the since demolished Old Dominion University Fieldhouse. Stanford has made two regular-season trips to ODU, winning on Nov. 13, 2009 (89-56) and losing on Dec. 17, 1997 (83-66).

GET RIGHT WEEKEND »

• Stanford is coming off a weekend sweep of Syracuse (79-58) and Boston College (80-75), its first as an ACC member.
• The Cardinal shot 50.9 percent in the two wins (58-of-114), 48.8 percent from deep (21-of-43), and had a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio (41/30).
• The consecutive victories were Stanford’s first since winning three straight in late November against Morgan State, Cal Poly and UC San Diego.
• The Cardinal had 21 assists on 28 made baskets against the Orange and 20 assists on 30 buckets against the Eagles. Stanford hadn’t passed out 20 assists since the opener against Le Moyne (25).
• Stanford also made double-digit 3-pointers in both games on the homestand, 10 against Syracuse and 11 against Boston College. It hadn’t had back-to-back 10-triple outings since the season’s first three games.
• With the wins, Stanford moved to 12-0 this season against unranked opponents at home.

HOW THE SCHEDULE SHAPES UP »

• The home wins started a somewhat favorable end-of-season stretch for Stanford after a brutal month.
• Of Stanford’s final six regular-season games, four are at home and only one is against a ranked opponent (vs. No. 20 Georgia Tech on March 2).
• Heading into last weekend, the Cardinal had faced a Top 25 opponent in five of its previous eight games, beginning with a home loss to NC State on Jan. 12.
• From Jan. 12 to Feb. 9, South Carolina was the only school to face more ranked opponents (6).
• Stanford faced the toughest ACC schedule over that month. Boston College, Clemson, SMU, Virginia and Wake Forest each faced four ranked opponents from Jan. 12-Feb. 9. 

CHLOE CRUSHED IT »

• Chloe Clardy went for 14 points, 12 assists, zero turnovers and five steals to lead Stanford to a 79-58 victory over visiting Syracuse last Thursday night.
• Her 12 assists are the most by a Cardinal since Marta Sniezek had 13 in the Pac-12 Tournament against Washington on March 4, 2016 and tied for sixth in Stanford single-game history. The only players with more are Sniezek, Jennifer Azzi (twice) and Sonja Henning (twice).
• The sophomore didn’t turn the ball over once and, in records dating back to 2002-03, is the fourth in program history to have double-digit assists without a turnover, joining Sniezek in the game against UW, Talana Lepolo against San Diego State on Nov. 7, 2022 (11 assists, 0 turnovers) and Jeanette Pohlen on Jan. 22, 2011 against USC (12 assists, 0 turnovers).
• Clardy’s performance is the third against a DI opponent this season with at least 12 assists and no turnovers. Boston College’s Kaylah Ivey has done it twice, on Nov. 20 against New Hampshire (12 assists, 0 turnovers) and Jan. 16 against Miami (16 assists, 0 turnovers).
• Clardy is the only major conference player with a 14-point, 12-assist, five-steal game this season and the first DI player to do it against a Power 4/5 opponent since Colorado’s Kennedy Leonard had 14 points, 13 assists and six steals at Washington on Feb. 16, 2018.
• In readily available records dating back to 2002-03, she’s the only Stanford player to have that line and just the second ACC player to do it in a league contest along with North Carolina’s Cetera DeGraffenreid against Virginia on Feb. 15, 2010 (21 points, 12 assists, six steals).
• In the two wins over Syracuse and BC, Clardy had 16 assists against just one turnover and seven steals.

HEAL IS UNREAL »

• Tess Heal had her breakout game at Stanford’s win over Wake Forest on Jan. 16, scoring a season-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-8 from deep.
• She scored all 24 of her points in the first three quarters and made her first six 3-pointers. Heal went on a personal 11-0 run in the first to push Stanford to a 19-9 lead after one.
• A career 31.5 percent 3-point shooter at Santa Clara, she is 31-of-60 this year (.517).
• Shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 51.7 percent on 3-pointers, Heal is the only major conference guard in the country making more than 50 percent both overall and from distance (minimum one 3-pointer made per game).
• She popped off for another 23 points and five 3-pointers in Sunday’s win over Boston College.
• Heal has scored in double figures in four consecutive games after doing so just seven times in her first 20 appearances for Stanford.
• She has come off the bench in Stanford’s last 12 games and is averaging 9.9 points on 56.9 percent shooting (41-of-72), including 50.0 percent from deep (18-of-36).
• Her 9.9 points per game as a sub in ACC contests are fifth best in the league behind Duke’s Toby Fournier (14.7 ppg), Georgia Tech’s Dani Carnegie (13.2 ppg), Duke’s Oluchi Okananwa (10.8 ppg) and Clemson’s Hannah Kohn (10.0 ppg).

DILIGENT DEVELOPMENT »

• Nunu Agara has taken a massive leap and is one of the NCAA’s most improved players this season. After averaging 5.4 points and 2.9 rebounds as a freshman, she’s putting up 15.9 points (+10.5) and 7.6 rebounds (+4.7) per game as a sophomore.
• Twelfth in the league in scoring and eighth in rebounding, Agara is one of seven underclassmen in the country averaging 15/7/2. The others are sophomore Khamil Pierre at Vanderbilt (21.2 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 2.0 apg), sophomore Ashley Sofilkanich at Bucknell (20.1 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 3.2 apg), sophomore Zanai Barnett-Gray at Navy (19.8 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 3.1 apg), sophomore Stailee Heard at Oklahoma State (16.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.2 apg), sophomore Addy Brown at Iowa State (15.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 5.1 apg) and freshman Sarah Strong at UConn (16.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.4 apg).
• The last ACC players to average 15/7/2 for an entire season were Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley (18.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 2.0 apg) and Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld (15.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.5 apg) in 2020-21.
• Agara took a hard fall with 5:01 on the clock in the first quarter of Stanford’s loss at Notre Dame on Feb. 6. She missed the rest of that game and the Cardinal’s contests against Louisville and Syracuse, but returned to play a limited role in Sunday’s win over Boston College. In Stanford’s last four games, she has played 11 minutes and 53 seconds and has not scored.
• Agara had 29 points and 13 rebounds in Stanford’s overtime loss at No. 5 LSU on Dec. 5 and shot 75.0 percent from the floor (12-of-16). According to Sports Reference, she is the fifth DI player since 2002-03 to have 29 points and 13 rebounds in a true road game against an AP top five opponent and the only one to do it on better than 60.0 percent shooting.

YOUTH MOVEMENT »

• Stanford made a change to its starting lineup against Clemson on Jan. 5, with freshman Shay Ijiwoye and sophomore Chloe Clardy earning their first career starts in the backcourt. Along with sophomore Nunu Agara in the front court, it was the first time Stanford had started three underclassmen since Feb. 7, 2020, when sophomores Lacie and Lexie Hull and freshman Ashten Prechtel joined senior Nadia Fingall and junior Kiana Williams in the first five in a game against UCLA.
• Those three have started nine of the past 12 games, with another sophomore, Mary Ashley Stevenson, taking Agara’s place in the starting lineup against Louisville, Syracuse and Boston College.
• It is Stanford’s longest stretch starting three underclassmen since 2018-19, when sophomore Kiana Williams and freshman Lacie Hull started the final 24 games with either sophomore Maya Dodson or sophomore Alyssa Jerome, and alongside senior Alanna Smith and junior DiJonai Carrington.
• Over the past eight games, Stanford’s freshmen and sophomores have combined to score 315 of Stanford’s 517 points (60.9 percent) and grab 152 of its 277 rebounds (54.9 perecent).
• Heading in 2024-25, Stanford was looking replace 59.8 percent of its scoring, 54.4 percent of its rebounding and 42.8 percent of its minutes played from a season ago.
• The Cardinal’s leading returning scorer was Elena Bosgana (6.7) and its leading returning rebounder was Brooke Demetre (3.6).

BOSGANA’S BIG DAY »

• Elena Bosgana scored a career-high 26 points and didn’t miss from the floor to lead Stanford to an 84-54 win over visiting UC San Diego on Nov. 29.
• Bosgana poured in her 26 on a perfect 10-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-5 from deep, tying the school record for single-game field goal percentage (min. 10 attempts). Kim Kupferer was 11-of-11 from the floor in a game against Pacific on Jan. 24, 1981.
• The senior also had six rebounds, three assists and four steals in her 30 minutes. The only “blemish” in her otherwise perfect game was a missed free throw in the third quarter.
• According to Sports Reference, Bosgana is just the sixth DI player since 2002-03 to be perfect from the floor when attempting at least 10 total field goals and five 3-pointers and first since South Dakota State’s Tagyn Larson on Feb. 13, 2019 against Omaha (11-of-11, 5-of-5).
• She also became the fourth Stanford player to be perfect on 3-pointers with at least five attempts, joining Jennifer Azzi (7-of-7 vs. Eastern Michigan on Dec. 29, 1989), Joslyn Tinkle (5-of-5 vs. Michigan on March 26, 2013) and Lauren St. Clair (5-of-5 vs. UCLA on Feb. 3, 2000).
• Against Florida State on Jan. 9, Bosgana had her second consecutive double-double with 21 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, becoming just the second player in the country this season with those numbers in a game. Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim had 26 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists in a win over New Mexico on Nov. 24.

FIRST CLASS »

• Kate Paye’s first signing class as head coach includes three five-star talents and two four-stars according to espnW HoopGurlz, and four ranked in that publication’s top 100.

Player	HoopGurlz Rank	Stars	Ht./Pos.
Hailee Swain	9	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	5-11 • G
Lara Somfai	16	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	6-4 • F
Alex Eschmeyer	31	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	6-5 • F
Nora Ezike	84	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	6-2 • F
Carly Amborn	--	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	6-2 • G/F

• The class began with Swain’s commitment in July 2022 and culminated with Somfai’s announcement the morning of Nov. 13. The group is rated No. 3 by espnW HoopGurlz.
• Stanford’s three five-star signees are second to LSU (4) and the program’s most since it had four in the Class of 2019 (Haley Jones, Ashten Prechtel, Fran Belibi, Hannah Jump). That group won a national championship as sophomores.
• On Jan. 27, it was announced that Eschmeyer, Somfai and Swain will participate in the 2025 McDonald’s All American Game on April 1 in Brooklyn.
• Of the 24 women selected to be McDonald’s All Americans, Stanford and Tennessee have the most players suiting up next fall with three commits each.
• Stanford’s three McDonald’s All Americans are almost as many as the rest of the ACC combined (4).
• This is the fourth time Stanford has had three McDonald’s All Americans in the same class, along with 2019 (Fran Belibi, Haley Jones, Ashten Prechtel), 2016 (DiJonai Carrington, Nadia Fingall, Anna Wilson) and 2007 (Ashley Cimino, Kayla Pedersen, Jeanette Pohlen).
• Eschemyer and Swain are also on the USA Basketball roster for the 26th Nike Hoop Summit on April 12 in Portland, Ore.

WHERE WE STAND »

• Stanford, which has made 36 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, is currently 48th in the NET rankings.
• The Cardinal’s strength of schedule according to the NET is 23rd.
• Stanford snapped its second three-game losing streak of the year with the Feb. 13 win over Syracuse.
• Prior to this year, the Cardinal hadn’t experienced a three-game losing streak within the same season since January 2001 against Arizona, Oregon State and Oregon. Stanford has not dropped four straight in a season since January and February 1987 against Oregon State, Oregon, USC and UCLA.
• Stanford is 6-11 in its last 17 games, shooing 41.4 percent from the floor, 33.1 percent from beyond the arc, and with 204 assists against 282 turnovers (0.72 A/TO ratio). In the team’s first eight games during the month of November, the Cardinal went 7-1, shot 50.5 percent overall, 44.0 percent from deep, and had 135 assists and 95 turnovers (1.42 A/TO ratio).
• The team’s 6-11 record since the start of December is its worst 17-game stretch since the final 17 games of the 1985-86 season when it closed 5-12.
• Stanford’s record is the program’s worst 25-game start since beginning the 1986-87 season 13-12.
• The Cardinal moved back to .500 with the win over Syracuse on Feb. 13. Stanford had not been below .500 this late in a season since the end of 1986-87. Stanford was 13-14 following a 63-54 loss to No. 18 Oregon on March 5 before beating Oregon State 58-56 on March 7 to finish the year 14-14.

ROAD WOES »

• Stanford secured its first and only road win of the season at Wake Forest on Jan. 16, 74-71. It was the Cardinal’s first win in the state of North Carolina since a 78-63 win at NC State on Dec. 3, 1994.
• The Cardinal is 12-3 at home this season, but 1-9 away from Maples Pavilion. Stanford was the third-to-last Power 4 program to secure a victory away from its home court this season (road or neutral), ahead of Rutgers and Houston. The Cougars still do not have a road or neutral-site win.
• This was the latest in a season Stanford had gone without a road win since 2000-01. That year, the Cardinal didn’t pick up its first true road win since beating California in Berkeley on Jan. 20, 63-56.
• In home games, Stanford is scoring 79.3 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting, including 39.6 perfect from deep. In its 10 road and neutral games away from Maples, the Cardinal is averaging 63.5 points on 39.3 percent shooting and 31.7 percent on 3-pointers.
• Stanford is 1-8 in true road games this season. The Cardinal’s only sub-.500 road record over the past 37 seasons was in 2000-01 (6-8).

NEW CHAPTER »

• A two-time WBCA Assistant Coach of the Year during 17 seasons on Tara VanDerveer’s staff, Kate Paye leads Stanford into its inaugural ACC campaign after being hired to lead her alma mater on April 16.
• The 50-year-old Paye has been part of two of Stanford’s three national championships – as a player on the 1992 team and an associate head coach for the 2021 squad.
• Since Paye’s return in 2007-08, the Cardinal has gone 540-99 (.845) and won the 2021 national championship, advancing to two other title games, nine Final Fours and the Sweet Sixteen all but one year.
• Born at Stanford hospital, Paye earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford in 1995. She also graduated with distinction with both her Juris Doctorate and master’s degree in business administration from Stanford in 2003.

STAFF CONTINUITY »

• Every member of VanDerveer’s staff returned to help Paye navigate her first season as head coach.
• On April 23, Tempie Brown was elevated to the position of Harry K. and Ida S. Berland Associate Head Women’s Basketball Coach, previously held by Paye.
• One day later, Stanford All-American and WNBA champion Jeanette Pohlen was added to Paye’s staff as an assistant coach after spending the previous two seasons as Director of Player Development.
• Finally on April 25, Heather Oesterle was added as the inaugural Tara VanDerveer Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach, a newly endowed position to celebrate the program’s matriarch.
• Stanford boasts a roster of coaches that features four WNBA veterans in Paye, Pohlen, Katy Steding and Erica McCall. All four are Stanford graduates.