Brink scores career-high 25, No. 4 Stanford beats Pacific

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Of course Cameron Brink had a little bit of extra motivation wanting to shine with former star Stanford post player Nneka Ogwumike watching from courtside.

“Cam’s just like, ‘I’m going to show you what I got,'” Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Brink scored a career-high 25 points to go with 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, and the fourth-ranked Cardinal ran away from Pacific in the third quarter for a 91-62 win Sunday.

Lexie Hull added 16 points and three blocks for the Cardinal (6-2). She scored nine during Stanford’s 25-point third quarter.

Dynamic freshman guard Anaya James scored 18 points and Sam Ashby added 11 points for Pacific (2-7). The young Tigers dropped their sixth straight game after losing the previous two by a combined seven points — 80-77 in overtime to Nevada last Saturday and 76-72 at Oregon State on Dec. 1.

Brink, a sophomore who is close friends with Warriors star Stephen Curry, shot 12 of 16.

“Without my teammates making such great entry passes I wouldn’t have scored nearly as much as I did,” she said. “Rebounds, I can continue to be a force on the boards, I think that’s something Tara really wants me to do, and blocking shots but not fouling.”

Coach Bradley Davis is down two injured post players right now, so keeping up with Brink proved even more difficult.

“They’re all having to play different roles throughout this young season, which has given us some good experience,” Davis said. “Hopefully it’s experience we can cash in on later on.”

The Cardinal, pushing the tempo and working to make the extra pass, hit 9 of their first 12 shots and used a 19-2 run to build a 24-7 lead.

After a basket by James 2:27 before halftime, Pacific didn’t score again before intermission and trailed 45-34 at the break. Ashby made all three of her 3-point tries in the first half to help keep the Tigers close.

Stanford shot just 7 for 26 from 3-point range, with Hannah Jump going 3 for 10 to finish with 12 points. VanDerveer got to mix and match her rotations and capitalize on the Cardinal’s depth, getting Brink off her feet down the stretch.

“Cam was unstoppable inside,” VanDerveer said. “She had a great two weeks of practice, just playing great basketball for our team.”

Pacific center Elizabeth Elliott, another talented freshman, scored 12 points before fouling out.

She knows playing against stars like Brink will benefit her down the line.

“We’re really young now, but in a couple years this will all pay off because we’ll be in every situation,” Elliott said. “We’ve been in overtime, we’ve been in close games, we’ve been in blowouts. It’s important that we use this not just now but in the future and continue to learn and grow off this.”

BIG PICTURE

Pacific: The Tigers are missing injured posts Cassidy Johnson and Emily Jarrell. … James notched her third game in the last four scoring 18 or more points. … Pacific made five 3-pointers in the first half to Stanford’s 4 of 10 from deep. … The Tigers committed 19 turnovers leading to 23 Stanford points and were outrebounded 50-27, including 12-2 in the opening quarter in falling behind 30-18. … Pacific fell to 0-5 on the road.

Stanford: Hull’s twin sister, Lacie, had three of her team’s 11 steals. … Stanford blocked 10 shots in all, matching a season high after also swatting 10 in a 61-56 home defeat to Texas on Nov. 14. … The Cardinal briefly trailed in the game but then led by as many as 17 in the opening quarter. … Ogwumike, sitting on the baseline near Stanford’s bench, waved during a first-quarter timeout when announced and shown on the big screen.

UP NEXT

Pacific: At UNLV on Saturday.

Stanford: Hosts UC Davis on Wednesday night.

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