Iriafen, Brink lead No. 6 Stanford to an 80-50 victory over Arizona State

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This article was published 26/01/2024 (974 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TEMPE, Ariz (AP) — Kiki Iriafen had 27 points and 14 rebounds, Cameron Brink had 20 points and 16 rebounds and No. 6 Stanford handled Arizona State 80-50 on Friday.

Hannah Jump had 13 points as Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer won her 1,204th game, extending her NCAA career record for victories in both women’s and men’s programs.

“Having two big players out there kind of gives teams, like, ‘pick your poison,’” said Iriafen, who like Brink is a 6-foot-3 junior. “Whoever they want to guard, the other big goes off, and vice versa. We have a lot of energy between us.”

It was Iriafen’s 10th double-double of the season and the 42nd career double-double for Brink as the Cardinal (18-2, 7-1 Pac-12) won for the 10th time in 11 games.

“They are are so skilled and they complement each other very well,” VanDerveer said. “The second half we took care of the basketball, we got the ball inside, and there was no answer for Kiki or Cam.”

Jalyn Brown scored 17 points and Trayanna Crisp had 16 for the Sun Devils (9-11, 1-7), whose victory at Washington last week broke a six-game losing streak. Jump was among the principal defenders on Brown, who was averaging 23 points a game in league play.

Brink and Iriafen posted up for easy looks inside as the Cardinal exploited their size advantage. Stanford had a 49-33 rebounding edge, with 44 points in the paint and seven blocked shots.

“We had our work cut out for us tonight,” Arizona State coach Natasha Adair said. “They are veteran posts and they are potential WNBA draft picks. You are not going to stop them, but try to contain them. Even when we created the first miss, we can’t let them get their miss back.”

Brink had three blocked shots and has 358 in her career, the most among active Division I players. She is one of three Division I players averaging at least 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks per game.

“I love defense,” Brink said. “I think that’s what wins championships. Sometimes it gets me in (foul) trouble, but that’s how I can help my team the most at times. I just try to talk as much as a I can, be a dominating presence down low.”

Stanford limited Arizona State to 28.8% shooting from the field. The Cardinal, fourth in Division I in free-throw percentage, went 16 of 19 from the line. They had 24 assists on 29 field goals.

Brink showed no signs of the knee injury that kept her out of the 65-56 victory over Oregon State last Sunday, when VanDerveer passed Mike Krzyzewski in career wins.

“I wanted to make sure I was 100% coming back from it,” said Brink, who had ice bags on her left calf and her right eye after the game.

She had 12 points, six rebounds and two assists in the first quarter, when the Cardinal used a 15-5 rebounding edge and took a 21-17 lead.

NOTHING BUT NET

The Pac-12 ranks No. 1 in the NCAA NET rankings, which is the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s primary sorting tool, and has five of the top 17 teams. The Cardinal have five victories against NET top 25 teams, tied for the most in the nation, and will face NET No. 16 USC and NET No. 7 UCLA next week.

BIG PICTURE

Stanford: VanDerveer’s 1,204 victories are more than all but four other women’s programs in the nation. Only Tennessee, Connecticut, the Cardinal and James Madison have more. Arizona State coach Natasha Adair presented VanDerveer with a bouquet in a pregame ceremony.

Arizona State: The Sun Devils have bettered last season’s win total while weathering the loss of 2023 leading scorer Tyi Skinner to a preseason knee injury. They are in a stretch of seven of nine road games that will close with games at arch-rival Arizona, No. 11 USC and No. 2 UCLA.

UP NEXT

Stanford: At Arizona on Sunday.

Arizona State: Hosts California on Sunday.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball