No. 3 Stanford women upset by No. 25 Texas

STANFORD – Maples Pavilion was the site of one of the most awkward championship ring ceremonies in history on Sunday.

No. 3 Stanford had planned to celebrate its 2021 NCAA title team immediately after playing No. 25 Texas. But the Longhorns spoiled the party, scoring 12 straight points in the fourth quarter and hanging on for a 61-56 win.

Texas staffers gave the Horns Up sign and chest-bumped on the court, while the Texas players ran into the stands behind their bench to hug their family members as a highlight package detailing Stanford’s 2021 title run began to play on the videoboard.

The players and coaching staff were handed their rings by Provost Persis Drell, coach Tara VanDerveer and captains Anna Wilson and Alyssa Jerome spoke briefly, and Kiana Williams delivered a video message from Australia, where is she preparing to play this season. But there weren’t many smiles from the Cardinal (1-1), who had a 21-game winning streak snapped and lost a non-conference home game for the first time since No. 7 Tennessee won at Maples in 2007.

Despite returning everyone from last year’s national championship team except for Williams, the starting point guard, Sunday showed that repeating won’t be easy.

“It got everyone’s attention really quickly,” coach Tara VanDerveer said. “This is how it’s going to be.”

The Cardinal set an NCAA Tournament record with 59 made 3-pointers last year, but shot just 4 of 26 (15.4 percent) from 3-point range and had 20 turnovers to seven assists against the full-court pressure from Texas, which made the Elite Eight last season.

“They challenge you, especially with ballhandling,” VanDerveer said. “And losing Kiana, this was throwing our young or inexperienced point guards into the deep end of the pool.”

Stanford took a point-guard-by-committee approach Sunday, led by Haley Jones and Wilson. Still, the taller Cardinal, who had a 10-0 edge in blocks and a 37-28 advantage in rebounds, led 44-39 with seven minutes left. Then a flurry of 3s by Aliyah Matharu, who went 4-for-4 from behind the arc in the fourth quarter, put Texas (2-0) ahead to stay.

“Later on this season we’ll look back on this game as a blessing in disguise, as much as we don’t like it right now,” said senior Lexie Hull, who led the Cardinal with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The schedule won’t get much easier – six of the Cardinal’s 11 non-conference opponents are ranked in the preseason AP poll. Stanford will face No. 8 Indiana and No. 4 Maryland in the Bahamas later this month, and travel to No. 15 Tennessee and No. 1 South Carolina in December.

“It’s about how you finish in the end, so we’re going to learn from this and grow,” Jones said. “We know what we’re capable of.”