Stanford Women's Basketball Earns Early Matchup With Miami in ACC Tournament

Stanford women's basketball closed out the regular season with a complete dismantling of a Clemson program that is expected to be bound for the NCAA tournament later this month. Nunu Agara put up 24 with 10 rebounds, followed closely by freshman Hailee Swain's career-high 20 to help lift the Cardinal to an 85-50 victory.

Swain is also the first Stanford freshman to score 20 points since Cameron Brink had 24 in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament against Oregon State on March 5, 2021.

Coming into the game, Clemson had the No. 1 ranked scoring defense in the ACC, allowing just 58 points per game. Instead, Stanford shot an incredible 34-of-61 (55.7%) and easily hung the highest total allowed by the Tigers on Clemson. The previous high allowed this season was 73 to Virginia.

Head coach Kate Paye said after the game, "We've talked a lot about if our team could get healthy, and start firing on all cylinders, then watch out. I think you saw that today."

The key run in this one was an unanswered 18-0 burst from the Cardinal in the third quarter that turned it from a 23-point game into a 40-point contest. Agara's double-double was her seventh of the season, and she ended up averaging 14.9 points and 8.5 rebounds a game this season as a junior.

Stanford's seeding for the ACC tournament

Stanford women's basketball team celebrates | Karen Hickey/ISI Photos

With the ACC schedule fully complete, Stanford will now have a date with No. 13 Miami in the 12/13 matchup of the opening round of the ACC tournament. The entire event will be held in Duluth, Georgia beginning on Wednesday.

Stanford and Miami will have the first game on the schedule that day, too, which could end up being a bit of a disadvantage for the California program, given that tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. (PT), 11:00 a.m. (ET). One way that Stanford will attempt to combat the early start is by heading out on Monday to get somewhat acclimated to the time change.

The game will be available on the ACC Network, and the winner of the matchup gets a date with No. 5 Notre Dame in the second round.

On top of the poor timing of the tip-off, Stanford faced Miami on the road recently in Coral Gables, FL, in what ended up being a 66-51 defeat on Thursday, February 19.

In that game, Swain led the team in scoring with 16 on 6-of-14 shooting, while Agara was held in check a bit, putting up 11 points (4-of-13) and eight rebounds. They were the only two Cardinal in double figures in that game.

Miami's ability to spread out the scoring was the key for them in that matchup, as they had five players—all starters—do all of their scoring. Four of the five also played over 30 minutes. The two players to watch out for, based on that game, are going to be Gal Raviv, who had 19 points to lead all scorers, and Ra Shaya Kyle, who scored 11 but pulled down 14 boards.

Ra Shaya Kyle was a force all season, averaging 16.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. She also notched 0.7 blocks per contest, while Raviv led the team in both assists (4.0) and steals. (1.4).

Paye also said that the team has talked about wanting to play their best basketball in March. "It's March first, and we're gonna build on this." They'll get their shot to make an impression on Wednesday morning on the ACC Network.

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