Orrange Leads Cardinal in Win Over Colorado

By: Joe Lami

Senior point guard, Amber Orrange, set a new career high Saturday night, as she scored 26 points in a 62-55 win over the Colorado Buffalos. Lili Thompson added 17 points, as the Cardinal earned their first win of 2015 and of the Pac-12 portion of their schedule.

The Cardinal entered half time with a seven-point lead, which the Buffaloes eliminated with ten minutes to go in the contest. The Cardinal came back to take the lead with a 5-0 run of their own, which kicked off a 19-12 run to end the game.

Jamee Swan came off of the bench for a double double, leading the Buffs in scoring with 12 and rebounds with ten. She also finished the night perfect from the free throw line (6/6).  Jen Reese capped off the double-digit scorers for Colorado with ten.

The Cardinal did a great job defensively, holding Colorado to just 34% from the field and 10% from beyond the three-point line.

Stanford will host Utah Monday night to end their first Pac-12 homestand of the year.

With the career high, Orrange also moved past Joslyn Tinkle and Jillian Harmon on Stanford’s all-time scoring list.

Coyotes make good impression on new CEO

NHL COMMENTARY
By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, January 3, 2015

GLENDALE, Arizona – There’s nothing like a badly needed win to impress the new boss.

Andrew Barroway, who, as of Dec. 31, owns 51 percent of the Arizona Coyotes, was on hand to drop the ceremonial first puck prior to the Coyotes’ impressive 6-3 triumph over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets before 13,159 at Gila River Arena.

For control of the franchise, Barroway paid a reported $152.5 million for the privilege. Barroway, who made his personal fortune as a hedge fund manager, has the hammer on all final decisions, and insists he’s here to make major league hockey work in the Valley of the Sun over the long haul.

“It’s not going to be like ‘Top Chef.’ I’m not going to be running around screaming,” Barroway said at his introductory press conference. “But ultimately, the buck stops with me.

“I put a lot of my own economic resources into this. I believe in this team and I believe in the NHL.”

Another point Barroway made was that short-term improvements would not be a part of the plan for rebuilding the Coyotes. Instead, more resources will initially go toward improvements in scouting, drafting and player development – an area that was sorely neglected while the Coyotes spent four seasons as wards of the NHL.

While an agreement is still intact with the city of Glendale that stipulates the team can be relocated if it loses $50 million over the first five years of IceArizona ownership, Barroway insists he has no intention of moving or selling the Coyotes.

Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney told the media, “What I’m encouraged about with my discussions with Andy is the long-term view of the team, the game, where the game is going and what we have to do to have success. Any knee-jerk, quick fix that might give us another point in the standings, that’s not going to happen. We’re going to think things through and analyze what we have in this organization.”

Coyotes playing better
Last Saturday, a fluke overtime shootout goal (with a busted stick) by Shane Doan gave Arizona a tough win over the Anaheim Ducks. Since then, the Coyotes have beat Philadelphia but suffered a 6-0 drubbing from Dallas.

Columbus came to the desert on the heels of back-to-back wins at home over Boston and Minnesota, and for the Blue Jackets this was the first of a five-game road swing. Yet it was the Jackets who looked like they were playing their fifth road game in a row, not the first.

The teams swapped goals in the first period, and Columbus surged ahead 2-1 on a power play goal from James Wisniewski. Then, a Coyotes power play that has struggled most of the season came alive with goals by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Sam Gagner to regain the lead for good at 3-2. Gagner’s second tally of the night also came with a man advantage, giving goaltender Mike Smith more than ample offensive support.

Smith had been in a slump and was benched of late (seven of the Coyotes’ last eight games) in favor of backup Devan Dubnyk. Except for an unassisted goal by Ryan Johansen with one minute left in the third period, Smith looked much like his old self, stopping 23 of 26 shots.
“By far, this was one of our best games of the year,” Smith said. “We were swarming all over the ice and we played as well as we could.

“I felt pretty good out there,” Smith said. “I felt I was prepared and mentally, I was ready to get back in there. A couple of goals were pretty jumpy, but that’s just from not playing.”

San Jose visits Arizona on Jan. 13 – the fifth of a six-game homestand. There should be plenty on the line by then, as the Sharks are trying to emerge from a logjam in the Pacific Division along with Los Angeles, Vancouver and Calgary, and the Coyotes are trying to build up steam for a possible push for the eighth playoff seed in the West.

Daniel Dullum covers the NHL, MLB and Stanford for Sports Radio Service.

Terps routed in Bay Area

By Jeremy Kahn

SANTA CLARA-Randy Edsall is probably not really happy about the result of the 2014 Foster Farms Bowl for his Maryland Terrapins.

Kevin Hogan, who went to high school not far from the Maryland campus at Gonzaga Prep in Washington D.C., while growing in McLean, Virginia threw two touchdowns on 14-for-20 passing with 189 yards passing, as the Stanford Cardinal defeated the Terrapins 45-21 at Levi’s Stadium.

Devon Cajuste caught both of Hogan’s touchdown passes, while Austin Hooper caught five passes on the night, as the Cardinal finished the season with eight wins.

Remound Wright, who scored four touchdowns against their cross-bay rival California Golden Bears on November 22 scored three touchdowns in the first half.

After the Terrapins tied up the game in the first quarter, the Cardinal simply throttled the Terrapins, as they scored 35 unanswered points in the first ever meeting between the two programs.

Wright got the Cardinal on the board on their initial series, as the Cardinal took nearly seven minutes off the clock, as Wright scored from one yard out.

Wes Brown tied up the game for the Terrapins, as he scored from one yard out, but then the game turned to the Cardinal.

Wright scored two straight touchdowns, and then Hogan and Cajuste connected for two consecutive touchdowns.

Fifth-year senior Ricky Seale scored for the Cardinal just eight seconds into the fourth quarter to give the Cardinal a 35-point lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore William Likely returned the Jordan Williamson kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.

It was the fourth touchdown of the season for Likely.

It was an off night senior C.J. Brown, as he went 15-for-27 with 205 yards passing and an interception.

Brown closed out the scoring, as he scampered in from two yards out with just under three minutes remaining in the game.

Stefon Diggs caught 10 passes for 138 yards, as he returned to the field for the first time since November 1.

Diggs was forced to miss the Terrapins last three games with a lacerated kidney.

This is the third straight win for the PAC-12 in the Foster Farms Bowl after the Arizona State Sun Devils won in 2012 over the Navy Midshipmen, and in 2013, the Washington Huskies defeated the Brigham Young Cougars.

Local kid does great in win

By Jeremy Kahn

With the playoffs all wrapped up, there was only one more thing that the Denver Broncos needed to accomplish in their season finale, a first-round bye.

Vallejo native C.J. Anderson score three touchdowns, as the Broncos simply demolished the Oakland Raiders 47-14 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

With the victory, the Broncos clinched a number two seed in the AFC and a first-round bye after the 33-point victory.

Connor Barth kicked four field goals, while Peyton Manning failed to throw a touchdown for the second time in the last four weeks.

Despite not throwing a touchdown, Manning went 21-for-37 for 273 yards passing on the afternoon.

This was the Raiders 11th consecutive loss on the road, as they finished the season with an overall record of 3-13.

Anderson carried the ball 13 times for 87 yards, while Ronnie Hillman returned for the first time since November 9, as he carried the ball 15 times for 56 yards.

Hillman was out with a sprained left knee.

It was a record setting day for Demaryius Thomas, as he caught eight passes for 115 yards.

Thomas ended the season with 1,619 yards receiving, breaking Rod Smith’s 14-year old of 1,602 that was set in 2000.

Derek Carr’s rookie season ended with a subpar afternoon, as he went 18-for-36 for 158 yards, a touchdown and a interception.

Latavius Murray carried the ball just 10 times for 37 yards.

Cardinal End Non-Conference Schedule on High Note, Crush UCSB 90-34

By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal finished off their non-conference schedule on Sunday afternoon with a blowout win over the UCSB Gauchos 90-34. The win ups the record of the 16th ranked Cardinal to 8-4, including their fifth win at Maples Pavilion.

12 of the 15 players who saw action scored for Stanford, as Lili Thompson led them with 12 points. Three other Cardinal got into double digits, Karlie Samuelson and Briana Roberson each had 11, and freshman guard, Brittany McPhee added ten. Freshman forward, Eric McCall, once again led the team in rebounds with 12 on route to destroying UCSB on the boards 50-21.

The shooting was impressive for the Cardinal, as they finished 56% from the field, and 42% from three-point range.

The winless Gauchos got the first bucket on the game, but would immediately fall behind, as Kaylee Johnson would get the next bucket for the Cardinal, which kick started the Cardinal to a 8-2 run. UCSB was held to only 20% shooting in the first half, and finished the night 26% from the field. Jasmine Ware led the Gauchos with eight points.

Stanford will wait until the new year before they tip-off their Pac-12 schedule, as they host the Colorado Buffalos on Saturday.

Terrapins return to the Bay Area

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-The game may have a different name and a different stadium, but it is still in the San Francisco Bay Area.

After being called the Walnut Bowl, Diamond Walnut Bowl, Emerald Bowl, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Fight Hunger Bowl, the game is now called the Foster Farms Bowl.

The first 12 games were played at AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants; however the game will now be played at Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Making their second appearance in the game will be the Maryland Terrapins, who played the Oregon State Beavers in the 2007 Emerald Bowl and lost to their opponents by the final of 21-14.

The Terrapins will be facing the Stanford Cardinal, who will be making their and the Cardinal will face each other on the gridiron.

Randy Edsall brings his Terrapins to the Bay Area after their inaugural season in very competitive Big Ten that saw the Terrapins finish with a 7-4 record and 4-4 in the Big Ten Conference.

Away from Byrd Stadium in College Park, the Terrapins won five games, the most in the conference, and the highest for the program since Frank Reich was under center for theTerrapins in 1984.

Sixth-year quarterback C.J. Brown comes off a game where he passed for 195 yards and gained 107 yards on the ground, his ninth 100-yard rushing game.

Overall during his career in College Park, Brown ranks fifth in school history in passing yards and fourth in completions.

His nine career 100-yard rushing games are fourth in school history, with former Oakland Raiders running back Lamont Jordan, who topped the 100-yard plateau on 18 different occasions from 1997-2000.

Between his passing and rushing yards, Brown is only 213 yards from tying Scott Milanovich for the most all-purpose yards in school history.

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs leads the Terrapins with 52 catches and 654 yards.

Raiders head to Mile High for regular season finale

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

Follow Joe on twitter @JLHB510

OAKLAND — After dispatching the visiting Buffalo Bills 26-24 at O.co Coliseum in Week 16 behind two touchdown passes from rookie quarterback Derek Carr and four field goals from Sebastian Janikowski and extending the Bills playoff drought to 15 years, the Raiders travel to Denver Sunday to take on the AFC West champion Broncos in both team’s regular season finale.

Oakland (3-12) dominated the time of possession over the Bills (8-7), 33:47 to 26:13, and rushing yards, 140 to 13.

After starting the season 0-10, the Raiders are 3-2 in their last five games with victories over Kansas City, San Francisco, and now, Buffalo.

“I can’t say enough good things about this team,” interim coach Tony Sparano said. “I love the guys in that locker room. They’re fighters. Anytime somebody counts them out, they bounce back. It’s a great sign of character.”

Defensively, Oakland got key contributions from middle linebacker Miles Burris, who recorded a team-high nine tackles (4 solo) and cornerback D.J. Hayden, who had six tackles.

With Oakland trailing Buffalo, 7-0 in the second quarter behind Bills rookie wide receiver Sammy Watkins’ 42-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter and Buffalo driving into Oakland’s territory, veteran safety Charles Woodson out-muscled Bills tight end Scott Chandler for the ball to record his 60th career interception. Woodson’s interception, proved to be the play that provided Oakland with the momentum to carry them through the rest of the game.

“This team has never really gotten down to the point where we were ready to give up,” safety Woodson said. “It’s always been an upbeat attitude with the guys on the team, and it shows out there each week.”

There is no doubt that Woodson has played at high level this year at age 38, leading the team in tackles (106) and interceptions (4), to go along with eight pass defensed and a sack.

Woodson, along with rookie linebacker Khalil Mack (tied for the team lead with four sacks), were named as alternates in the upcoming Pro Bowl. According to Pro Football Focus, Mack rates as the the best 4-3 outside linebacker in the NFL.

Fullback Marcel Reece was named a starter for the Pro Bowl, his third overall.

Denver is coming off gut-punching 37-28 loss in Cincinnati before a national televised audience where quarterback Peyton Manning threw a season-high four interceptions.

“I shouldn’t have thrown it,” said Manning, who was 28 of 44 for 311 yards with two touchdowns. “Four interceptions, you’re not going to beat many good football teams.”

With the loss, Denver (11-4) are locked in as the No. 2 seed as New England wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the AFC Playoffs. Denver also failed to clinch a first-round bye.

 Players to Watch

Oakland, QB, Derek Carr

There is no doubt that Carr is the Raiders’ quarterback of the future, and his play has definitely gotten better as the season gone on. Carr leads all rookie quarterbacks in passing yards (3,112) and touchdown passes (20). If it weren’t for Cincinnati rookie running back Jeremy Hill (199 carries, 1,024 rushing yards, 9 TDs) and New York Giants’ rookie wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (79 catches, 1,120 receiving yards, 11 TDs) Carr would be walking away with the NFL Rookie of the Year award.

Denver, QB, Peyton Manning

Manning appeared mortal against Cincinnati with his season-high four interceptions, prompting many pundits to question whether Manning was injured. The Bengals was up in the future Hall of Famer’s grill, confusing Manning with an array of pressuring blitzes and knocking him down throughout the game. Rarely does Manning play poorly in back-to-back weeks and with the playoffs just one week away, one will expect Manning to have a bounce back performance. In Denver’s 41-17 demolishing over Oakland in Week 10, Manning threw for 340 and five touchdowns.

Cardinal earn huge OT road win over No. 9-Texas

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Anthony Brown knocked down a season-best 25 points Tuesday, leading Stanford to a stunning 74-71 upset victory over No. 9-ranked Texas in a non-conference men’s basketball game played at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

Chasson Randle added 22 points for the Cardinal (7-3), who had not defeated a Top 10 team on the road since 2008. Reid Travis scored seven points and pulled down

Javan Felix led Texas (10-2) with 19 points, followed by Jonathan Holmes and Kendal Yancey with 14 points each. Longhorn Myles Turner grabbed eight rebounds.

As a team, Stanford hit 8 of 18 3-pointers. Brown hit 4 of 4 behind the arc, but he capped his big night with an inside drive with 1:08 left in overtime.

With 41 seconds left in overtime, Brown hit a jumper near the free throw circle to put Stanford ahead to stay. After Felix missed a 3-pointer, Randle sank a jumper with 10 seconds to play that provided the Cardinal with their margin of victory.

Along with getting a win that might be the difference in March when teams are selected for the NCAA tournament, the Cardinal snapped a four-game streak in which they trailed by double-digits in the first half. This happened in the previous four games, including losses to DePaul and Brigham Young and wins over Denver and Loyola Marymount.

The Cardinal return home on Monday, Dec. 29, for a non-conference game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

49ers to host Cardinals in season finale

By: Phillip Torres

SANTA CLARA-The San Francisco 49ers (7-8) will host the Arizona Cardinals (11-4) on Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale. San Francisco is looking to avoid their first losing season since the 2010 campaign where they finished 6-10.  Arizona, on the other hand is looking to lock up the number one seed in the NFC Playoffs with a victory.

The 49ers are once again looking to play the role of spoiler by costing Arizona a first round bye in the playoffs. The Cardinals have already secured a playoff berth and are looking to get an extra week of rest and head straight to the divisional round of the playoffs. San Francisco could not get the job done last week as they blew a 28-7 lead to the playoff hopeful San Diego Chargers on Saturday night. The victory keeps the Chargers playoff hopes alive as they look to sneak into the AFC Playoffs via a Wild Card spot.

The 49ers loss on Saturday means that they will finish no better then 8-8 on the season.  San Francisco last finished with a .500 record in 2009 under head coach Mike Singletary. That was Singletary’s last full season as the head coach for the 49ers as he did not finish the 2010 season with the team.  Head coach Jim Harbaugh did not speak too much about the loss to San Diego, but backed up his players 100 percent.

“The young guys were out there battling. It was a tough loss. Give a lot of credit to San Diego,” said Harbaugh.

The feeling in the locker room was like no other for San Francisco. After playing such a great game offensively, the team seemed as if they were hit in the gut. The 49ers offense ran for over 350 yards in the 38-35 overtime loss to the Chargers.  Runningback Frank Gore finished with 158 yards on the ground, including a 55-yard touchdown run to open up the scoring. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick tallied up 151 rushing yards and ran himself into the records books with a 90-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring for San Francisco. The 90-yard scramble was the second longest touchdown run by quarterback in NFL history.  The team finished with a team record 355 yards on the ground, 335 of which came in regulation.

Despite the three interceptions, including one pick six by San Francisco, the 49ers defense still allowed 454 yards of total offense. Including 356 yards through the air by Philip Rivers and four touchdown passes. The defense could not hang onto a 28-7 second quarter lead, and looked completely over matched in the overtime frame.

Arizona will be playing for the division title and a shot to become the number one seed in the NFC. They would need a Seattle Seahawks loss to the St. Louis Rams. The Seahawks will be hosting the Rams at CenturyLink field. Kickoff for the 49ers v.s. Cardinals game will be at 1:25 PM.

Stanford Ends Two-Game Winning Streak, Edges Past UC Davis 71-59

By Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal had a two-game road trip from hell last week, as they saw losses to both Chattanooga and Tennessee to mark the first time they’ve had back-to-back losses since 2010. They returned to Maples Pavilion and to their normal form on Monday afternoon, as they defeated the UC Davis Aggies 71-59.

Bonnie Samuelson was the difference maker for the Cardinal, as she hit a new career high in points with 30. The three-point specialist had six of her eight made field goals come from beyond the arc. Bonnie’s younger sister, Karlie, added three more from downtown to contribute to the Cardinal’s ten made three-pointers.

UC Davis held in with Stanford, shooting 41% from the field. Alyson Doherty led the team with 17 points, while Sydnee Fipps added 13. The Aggies also outrebounded the No. 16 ranked Cardinal 35-30, as UC Davis overall just outrebounded Stanford.

The struggles continue for Lili Thompson, as the star guard was held to one of six shooting to finish the game with three points.

Stanford’s No. 16 ranking is their lowest in since January 2nd, 2006, when they also had a No. 16 ranking. They continue into their holiday break until Saturday, when they will close out their non-conference schedule against UC Santa Barbara.