The 2013 edition of the Battle of the Bay was definitely something of a defensive chess match between an up and coming coach in Lindsay Gottlieb and a coaching master in Tara VanDerveer.
In game two at Maples Pavilion on Sunday, it was Cal that came up with a defensive strategy that Stanford struggled to solve, as described by C&R in their summary of the game.
Which brings us to…Stanford’s offense. It is the same one they played in the first game at Cal. And for the full 40 minutes at home against Cal. Now, you know Cal was studying the heck out of the game, which Gottlieb admitted post game, why not try something different? Especially since it did not work very well the first time and obviously was failing in this game. The ball mostly goes in the middle to the post at the top of the circle. She has her back to the basket and waits, slowly waits, for the guard to come around. Sometimes they have to gesture for someone to come around. Only one player appears to be moving at a time. It is so slow and Cal knew it was coming. Cal forced four, count ‘em, four shot clock violations, and when have you ever seen that in a Stanford game?
A combination of anticipating where the ball was going in Stanford's offense and targeted traps on Ogwumike and in corners was a significant part of why Cal was able to overcome their own offensive struggles to notch a major win on the road.
For the full Stanford perspective on Cal's big win, check out the rest of C&R's recap of the game from Maples. For more on the entire Battle of the Bay, check out our storystream.