Courtney OgdenCourtney Ogden
Women's Basketball

Cardinal Visits Virginia For First Time

Winners of three straight, Stanford plays at Virginia on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. PT on ACC Network

Radio ACC Network Live Stats PDF Game Notes

THE GAME: Winners of three straight, Stanford plays at Virginia on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. ET. Angel Gray and Mike Thibault have the call on ACC Network, while Tim Swartz will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com and the Stanford Athletics app.

THE RUNDOWN: Stanford has won three games in a row for the first time since late November ... Chloe Clardy scored a career-high 30 points and had five assists on Thursday at Virginia Tech ... She became the first Stanford guard with 30 points and five assists in a game since current assistant coach Jeanette Pohlen had 31 and six in the Cardinal’s 71-59 upset of No. 1 UConn on Dec. 30, 2010 ... Clardy’s 12 assists against Syracuse on Feb. 13 were the most by a Cardinal since 2016 ... In her last three games, Clardy is averaging 17.7 points on 55.9 percent shooting and has 21 total assists against just three turnovers ... 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 22nd in the nation in 3-point percentage (.364) ... Over the past nine games, freshmen and sophomores have combined to score 380 of Stanford’s 592 points (64.2 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: Stanford and Virginia will meet for the fifth time and first in Charlottesville. The only other regular-season matchup between the schools came in the teams’ first game on Dec. 30, 1986 in Maples Pavilion, a 69-66 Cavalier win. The Cardinal won its first two NCAA championships by beating Virginia in national semifinals in 1990 and 1992. Stanford won 75-66 in Knoxville on March 30, 1990 and 66-65 in Los Angeles on April 4, 1992. The most recent meeting was a Cardinal victory in the Sweet 16 in Missoula, Mont. on March 22, 1997, 91-69.

OF LATE »

  • Stanford is coming off a crucial overtime win at Virginia Tech on Thursday, 75-74. The win was the Cardinal’s second away from Maples Pavilion this season and first against a team with a winning record.
  • Stanford’s freshmen and sophomores combined to score 65 of the team’s 75 points. Sophomore Chloe Clardy led a young led a young Stanford squad with 30 points and five assists, sophomore Courtney Ogden added 15 and freshman Shay Ijiwoye put in a career-high 10, including the game-sealing free throws in overtime. Sophomore Mary Ashley Stevenson played 43 minutes and had six points and seven rebounds, while freshman Kennedy Umeh added four points and two steals.
  • The Cardinal has now won three games in a row for the first time since late November against Morgan State, Cal Poly and UC San Diego and moved back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble.
  • Stanford, which has made 36 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, is currently 47th in the NET rankings and among the ‘Next Four Out’ of the NCAA Tournament field according to ESPN’s latest Bracketology.
  • The Cardinal’s strength of schedule according to the NET is 23rd.
  • Stanford does not currently own a Quad 1 win, but has two results that are on the doorstep with a home win over Florida State (No. 26 NET) and Thursday’s road win at Virginia Tech (No. 46 NET).
  • Home victories over NET 1-25 and road victories over NET 1-45 are Quad 1.

CHLOE CRUSHED IT »

  • Chloe Clardy scored a career-high 30, including 21 after halftime, in Stanford’s win over Virginia Tech.
  • She also added five assists and three steals and became the first Stanford guard with 30+ points and 5+ assists in a game since current assistant coach Jeanette Pohlen had 31 and six in the Cardinal’s 71-59 upset of No. 1 UConn on Dec. 30, 2010.
  • It was the first 30-point, five-assist, three-steal game for the Cardinal in over a decade. Chiney Ogwumike was the last to do it when she had 31 points, six assists and three steals in a win over Oregon State on Jan. 5, 2014.
  • In her last three games, Clardy is averaging 17.7 points on 55.9 percent shooting (19-of-34), including 6-of-13 from deep (.462). She has 21 total assists against just three turnovers (7.0 A/TO ratio).
  • Clardy went for 14 points, 12 assists, zero turnovers and five steals to lead Stanford to a 79-58 victory over visiting Syracuse on Feb. 13.
  • Her 12 assists were 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, became 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).

GET RIGHT WEEKEND »

  • Last weekend at home, Stanford picked up its first sweep as an ACC member in beating Syracuse (79-58) and Boston College (80-75).
  • 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 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, 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 »

  • Stanford’s winning streak has started a somewhat favorable end-of-season stretch 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’s homestand, 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. 

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-63 this year (.492).
  • She popped off for another 23 points and five 3-pointers in last Sunday’s win over Boston College.
  • Heal has scored in double figures in four of the last five games after doing so just seven times in her first 20 appearances for Stanford.
  • She has come off the bench in Stanford’s last 13 games and is averaging 9.3 points on 52.5 percent shooting (42-of-80), including 46.2 percent from deep (18-of-39).
  • Her 9.3 points per game as a sub in ACC contests are fifth best in the league behind Duke’s Toby Fournier (14.1 ppg), Georgia Tech’s Dani Carnegie (13.4 ppg), Duke’s Oluchi Okananwa (11.2 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 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 five 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 13, with another sophomore, Mary Ashley Stevenson, taking Agara’s place in the starting lineup against Louisville, Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech.
  • 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 nine games, Stanford’s freshmen and sophomores have combined to score 380 of Stanford’s 592 points (64.2 percent) and grab 170 of its 309 rebounds (55.0 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.

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 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 7-11 in its last 18 games, shooing 41.5 percent from the floor, 32.8 percent from beyond the arc, and with 215 assists against 296 turnovers (0.73 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 7-11 record since the start of December is its worst 18-game stretch since it had a  7-11 stretch from Jan. 2 through March 5, 1987.
  • Stanford’s record is the program’s worst 26-game start since beginning the 1986-87 season 13-13.
  • 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 has only two road wins this season at Wake Forest on Jan. 16 and at Virginia Tech on Feb. 20.
  • The Cardinal is 12-3 at home this season, but 2-9 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 11 road and neutral games away from Maples, the Cardinal is averaging 64.5 points on 39.7 percent shooting and 31.3 percent on 3-pointers.
  • Stanford is 2-8 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 541-99 (.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.