By: Joe Lami

It was a tail of two halves on Saturday afternoon at Maples Pavilion, as the Stanford Cardinal defeated the Washington State Cougars 57-56. At the end of the first half, Washington State actually had a two-point lead, 39-37. However, Stanford started to play better basketball in the second half, as the first half was a complete nightmare for the Cardinal, which saw 13 turnovers.

Washington State capitalized on those turnovers, scoring 14 points off of them in just the first half. The turnovers dwindled in the second half for the Cardinal, as they only lost the ball five times.

The Cardinal ended the day shooting 49% from the field, including a poor 39% from three-point land, but it was enough to keep Stanford’s 59-game winning streak over the Cougars going. The shots also stopped falling for the Cougars in the second half, as they made just seven of their 36 shots.

Lia Galderia led all scorers as she had 18 of Washington State’s points. Mariah Cooks added 14. The difference maker was the poor shooting for Tia Presley, who finished the night with four points on one of ten shooting.

Amber Orrange led the way for Stanford with 15 points. Erica McCall followed with 14. Brianna Roberson continues her strong play, as she scored 11. The Cardinal proved once again that they can play better basketball when it matters, but they prefer to just play better from the start.

The No. 12 ranked Cardinal return to action against the 16-5 Washington Huskies on Monday.