By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal (3-1) were given a scare on Monday night in Albuquerque, as they defeated the New Mexico Lobos (0-4) in the first road game of the season 70-65. They did so without their leading scorer, as sophomore Lili Thompson, was scratched from the game due to illness. Thompson is averaging 26 points per game, and was voted ESPNW’s player of the week for the first week of the season.

Karlie Samuelson filled that void, however, as she led the team in scoring with 23 points. Head Coach, Tara VanDerveer, added “She’s usually kind of our sixth player. I love the energy she brings off the bench, you can depend on her and tonight she played really great”.

Two other Cardinal scorers achieved double digit scoring, as Amber Orrange contributed 18 points on 43% shooting from the field. Freshman, Kaylee Johnson finished the night with ten points, but more importantly brought down 23 rebounds, a career high in her young, impressive Stanford career.

Both teams depended on their starters quite heavily, as the Lobos edged the Cardinal in bench scoring 11-9.

New Mexico saw four different starters get into double digits. The fifth starter didn’t score at all. Guard, Bryce Owens led the way with 16 points, with nine of them coming from beyond the arc. Cherise Beynon followed with 14 points. Khadijah Shumpert was almost perfect from the field as she went six of seven to finish the night with 13 points. Antiesha Brown finished out the scorers for the Lobos with 11.

The Cardinal once again struggled with their free throw shooting, something that VanDerveer has been pressing all season. Monday night was one of their worst nights of the young season, as they finished the night 58% from the charity strike.