For the second straight NCAA Tournament, the Stanford Cardinal faced a fourth-quarter deficit on its home court in the second round, contemplating the possibility of a shocking upset.
While Pac-12 Player of the Year Cameron Brink spent most of the night in foul trouble against No. 7 Iowa, the No. 2 Cardinal turned to the other twin towers to take them home. After spending just five scoreless minutes on the bench in a 2023 loss to Ole Miss, Kiki Iriafen scored 41 points, tied for ninth all-time in a single game in the NCAA Tournament, and added 16 rebounds and 4 assists to lead Stanford to 87 -81 victory in overtime. The Cardinal advanced to the Sweet 16 to face the winner of No. 3 NC State over No. 6 Tennessee.
SWEET SIXTEEN TIED#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/xw0AyZQYor
— Stanford WBB 🤓🏀 (@StanfordWBB) March 25, 2024
There was nothing Iriafen couldn’t do. The conference’s Most Improved Player scored points across the board against Audi Crooks and the No. 7 Cyclones. She practiced sweaters. She faced the distance and passed her defender. She wrote and ended by contact. Iriafen also performed admirably on defense, forcing beloved Audi Crooks to make 3 of 21 shots on goal in the first round, while Iowa State combined for 12 of 27 shots on goal in the shootout.
Stanford needed every thing it could get from Iriafen in a game that was close for 45 minutes. After the first quarter, neither team led by greater than two possessions. There were 12 ties and 18 lead changes, and Iowa State led by one with 31 seconds left before Brooke Demetre’s cold-blooded three-pointer proved decisive. Demetr collected the ball after Addy Brown missed a possible tying goal on the next possession, and the Cardinal – and the nervous home crowd in Maples Pavilion – could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
In what must have turn out to be an fast classic, Iowa State delivered the first blow. The Cyclones added seven points in the first quarter thanks to hot shooting from beyond the arc and the continued play of senior guard Emily Ryan, who made three three-pointers herself. Stanford put the clamps on in the second quarter and squeezed enough offense from Iriafen and scorer Hannah Jump to pull inside two, tying the rating in the second half.
Ryan dazzled on the dribble and step-back jumper, totaling a career-high 36 points, although 10 turnovers gave the Cardinal additional opportunities. While Crooks was outplayed by Iriafen and Brink, fellow freshmen Brown and Jalynn Bristow didn’t care and scored 25 points, including 10 in overtime.
Stanford, on the other hand, found enough beyond the production of Iriafen. Brink had five blocks, eight points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes. Jump was a highlight of lots of Iowa’s programs — the Cyclones even threw one field goal to the super senior on one possession — but she pounced on every defensive mistake and scored 15 points. Nunu Agara was tasked with defending Ryan and was liable for several of those 10 turnovers. And Demetra got here up with clutch baskets, the only three-pointers she ever made in the NCAA Tournament outside of garbage time.
Even in the match for Iriafen’s life, the Cardinal narrowly avoided an enormous disappointment. Two straight years of upsets at home – after also being upset in the conference tournament each season – called into query Stanford’s durability.
Instead, coach Tara VanDerveer and her staff were able to push the right buttons to keep Iriafen playing and optimize their bench play. Outstanding shooting on each side prevented either team from gaining a major lead, but the most vital takeaway for the Cardinal was that when it needed to make an offensive push, it was able to achieve this.
Neither team deserved to lose, but Iriafen’s Stanford was a worthy winner. The VanDerveer player was barely finding minutes on the court a 12 months ago, found herself in the national highlight with one in all the best tournament performances in recent years, and had her team dancing.
Required reading