No. 2 Stanford routs Hawaii 68-39

By KALANI TAKASE
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — Ashten Pretchel scored 12 of her season-high 17 points in the first half to help No. 2 Stanford easily defeat Hawaii 68-39 on the final day of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown Sunday.

The Cardinal (7-1) erased an early deficit and held the Rainbow Wahine (1-6) to a season-low scoring output.

Pretchel came off the bench and shot 6 of 10 from the field, including hitting a career-best five 3-pointers. She also grabbed 11 rebounds.

“It always feels good to come out and win tournaments and games and it was a good win for our team,” Pretchel said. “It was exciting to come out and win this tournament.”

Stanford shot 7 of 22 from beyond the arc but was just 24-of-60 shooting (40%) from the field. It entered the game averaging 52% from the field.

“I thought we played very well defensively,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I want to give credit to Hawaii. They played with a lot of energy, they had a nice crowd, they really moved the ball really well, I was impressed with how hard they played, so give them the credit for us not shooting well.”

Cameron Brink scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds, recorded five blocks and three steals. Haley Jones added 11 points and Talana Lepolo logged eight assists in the win.

“I thought Ashten had a great game,” VanDerveer said. “I thought Cam did really well, Talana was fantastic, I thought she really ran our team the whole tournament — I think she’s really special. Today, I mean, Ashten had a double-double, we have different people stepping up and it was great and she did, she stepped up really well.”

Lily Wahinekapu led Hawaii with 12 points.

Stanford led 40-17 at halftime.

The Cardinal improved to 11-0 all-time against the Rainbow Wahine, including an 8-0 mark in Honolulu.

Hawaii went 1-2 over the weekend and averaged only 44.5 points per game in its two losses against Stanford and FGCU.

“This was a hard weekend. The teams that we played are really good and I think that over the course of the weekend we became a really good team. I know that the stats sometimes don’t show it, I know the scores don’t show it, I know our overall record is not great (but) we’ve become a better team this weekend,” Rainbow Wahine coach Laura Beeman said.

BIG PICTURE

Stanford: The Cardinal, who were picked by both league coaches and media as the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12, were able to go deep into their rotation over their three games in three days in the 50th state, which they won by an average of 30 points.

Hawaii: The Rainbow Wahine have a pair of non-conference games remaining before they open Big West Conference play on Dec. 21. They were voted by league coaches to repeat as conference champions and added Cal State Fullerton-transfer Wahinekapu, who picked up Big West Freshman of the Year honors last season.

FOOT TO THE FACE

A few minutes after Pretchel drained her fourth 3-pointer of the first half, she was inadvertently kicked in the face by Jones after the latter drew a foul and went to the floor. Jones slid between Pretchel’s legs before her right foot just barely grazed Pretchel’s face.

“I was shocked because I saw her coming and then I saw her foot coming and then it just kept coming,” Pretchel laughed. “That was kind of wild, but it was funny. It was all good and yeah, I want to see the film on that.”

UP NEXT

Stanford: Next hosts a pair of teams from the West Coast Conference in Santa Clara Wednesday and Gonzaga Sunday.

Hawaii: Will not play again until Dec. 11, when it hosts UNLV in its final home non-conference game.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25