Stanford Coach Kate Paye Heaps Praise on Key Player From Sunday's WBIT Win

Stanford women's basketball is moving on in the WBIT after yet another win on their home court. After an 80-76 win over Loyola Marymount on Thursday, the Cardinal followed that up with an 81-69 victory over Quinnipiac on Sunday. They now await the winner of Monday's contest between BYU and Missouri, with Stanford's next game coming on Thursday. The time for the game has not been set.

Stanford rode the hot hand of Alex Eschmeyer, who shot 6-of-7 from the floor and collected a career-high 18 points. She was absolutely huge in the win, and this will serve as a building block performance for the freshman as she continues to progress through her college career.

She was 2-of-3 from three and 4-of-4 from the line, hauling in five rebounds. Just a huge performance for the freshman.

Mary Ashley Stevenson also had a huge game for the Cardinal, and head coach Kate Paye offered up numerous huge compliments following the game.

Kate Paye on Mary Ashley Stevenson's performance

"M.A. is a junior captain on our team. She provides so much leadership. Four of our coaches played in the WNBA. M.A. is a pro. She is a great teammate. She is always ready. Whatever her team needs, come in, make a critical entry pass—well tonight we needed her to come in and play great defense on their posts.

"Both of those bigs that they have, 12 and 23, are excellent. She had huge rebounds. 10 points, nine rebounds, huge night from M.A. She helped us run offense, I think really steadied our team when we were a little bit out of sorts."

Mary Ashley Stevenson played just 16 minutes in this one, but her impact on the game was enormous with Stanford running a short bench and a seven person rotation. Her ten points tied a season high, set back in late November, but for the most part this season she was used sparingly, averaging just 1.8 points per game and 2.6 rebounds.

The performance was fairly similar to the one that Jaylen Thompson had on the men's side in the final game of the regular season. Just a lesser used player coming up and propelling their team to a big win.

Chloe Clardy also put up 18 points in this one in a team-high 39 minutes of game action. Nunu Agara added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, which led the team. After a huge 18 point performance against LMU, Hailee Swain was held to 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.

The win over Quinnipiac was also the end of Tricia Fabbri's career on the bench. Coach Paye said that she is a legend, and called the win "bittersweet" because this was her last game.

"It was an honor for us to participate in that. We are very appreciative of everything she has done for women's basketball. What an incredible career."

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