STANFORD – Senior Cameron Brink has enjoyed not being the favorite, for a change. She might not get to play that role much longer based on Sunday’s performance.
The No. 15 Stanford women will take a big jump in the rankings after jumping out to a 28-point halftime lead and beating No. 9 Indiana 96-64 at Maples Pavilion.
“We want teams to keep sleeping on us,” Brink said. “Since my freshman year we’ve always been in the Top 5, so it’s fun to hunt instead of being the hunted.”
Despite returning four starters, the Cardinal (2-0) was picked outside the Top 10 in the preseason AP poll for the first time since 2016-2017, and was picked outside the top two in the preseason Pac-12 media poll for the first time since 1999-2000.
In its first test this season, Stanford got double-doubles from Brink (20 points and 17 rebounds) and Kiki Iriafen (20 points and 11 rebounds) while holding AP first-team All-American Mackenzie Holmes to eight points – 14 below her average from last season – and two rebounds.
“That was an old-fashioned butt-kicking,” Indiana coach Teri Moran said. “We had some good moments, but you need a lot of good moments against a team like Stanford that had it going on from inside and outside today.”
The Cardinal made 6 of 12 3-pointers in the first quarter to race out to a 26-15 lead, and extended it to 54-26 at the half. Stanford led by as many as 34 midway through the fourth quarter against the Hoosiers (1-1).
And Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer maintained the team wasn’t close to fulfilling its potential yet.
“We talked about this in the locker room – I think this is just the tip of the iceberg of how good this team can be,” VanDerveer said. “Indiana is a really, really talented team. And our team took the challenge, led by Kiki and Cam – they are captains and leaders and they did their jobs.”
Brink’s performance could be expected – she had 21 points, 22 rebounds, five assists and five blocks when she faced the Hoosiers two seasons ago. But Iriafen’s emergence is a big reason why Stanford may exceed expectations.
Iriafen averaged 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds last season as a sophomore. But she led the team with 23 points and 13 rebounds against Hawai’i, and added another double-double Sunday in just 20 minutes, on 9-of-12 shooting.
“Kiki’s definitely the most improved player in the country,” Brink said. “The growth from last year to this year is insane.”
Iriafen gave credit to Brink, her fellow post player.
“I think we balance each other out,” Iriafen said. “We have great energy, we’re always looking for each other. Playing together makes it easy.”
Brink showed off an improved outside game, making two 3-pointers in the first quarter – matching her career high for one game. She also blocked four shots to become the 17th player in Division I, and the fourth in the Pac-12, with 300 career blocks. Brink’s 303 career blocks is 122 short of the Pac-12 record of 425 by Oregon State’s Ruth Hamblin.
The Cardinal’s next ranked opponent may be No. 18 Florida State on Nov. 24 in the Ball Dawgs Classic in Henderson, Nev., if both teams win their opening games in the tournament. Stanford also hosts Duke next Sunday and plays at Gonzaga on Dec. 3, before opening Pac-12 play for the final time.
Outside expectations were lowered after the Cardinal failed to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007, and then graduated three-time AP All-American Haley Jones and saw three reserves transfer out, including Class of 2022 No. 1 overall recruit Lauren Betts.
But Sunday’s performance shows those predictions might not hold up.
“We’ve got a lot of upside to this team,” VanDerveer said. “This was a great, great game for us. It was a statement game, and it’s nothing about Indiana, but just that we’re really excited and we’re gonna get better. We were having fun out there. And it was fun. I’m really proud of this. And we’re gonna build on all the things that we did.”
