Cardinal stand too tall as Stanford hands FGCU women's basketball its first loss of season

It's no longer a surprise that the FGCU women's basketball team can hang with Power 5 schools and win their fair share of those matchups.

For more than a half Friday that scenario played out as the Eagles battled No. 2 Stanford at the 2022 Rainbow Wahine Showdown. In the end, the Cardinal proved to be too big, owning the boards and the paint for a 93-69 win.

FGCU, which entered the game ranked 26th as the top team receiving votes in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll, suffered its first loss of the season (4-1) while the Cardinal improved to 6-1.

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Stanford outrebounded the Eagles 58-21 for the game including 15-4 on the offensive glass and outscored FGCU 56-22 in the paint. That advantage nullified FGCU's 3-point advantage of 13-6, but the Eagles took 46 shots which equaled a 28% conversion rate, not good enough to pull the upset.

The Eagles were led by TK Morehouse with 24 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds and Uju Ezeudu was the only other FGCU player to score in double figures with 13. Stanford's Haley Jones also scored 24 with 14 rebounds, Kiki Iriafen scored 16 with 11 rebounds and Cameron Brink scored 13 with 7 rebounds as the trip combined to hit 23 of 39 shots.

Two threes by Ezeudu, a three by Sha Carter, and a layup by Morehouse had the Eagles up 14-6 in the first quarter. Standford rallied with a 9-0 run, seven of those points coming from the free throw line, and led 21-19 at the end of the first quarter.

The Cardinal led the entire second quarter, but their biggest lead was six as the Eagles kept answering and only trailed 41-37 at the break. Stanford built its biggest lead to 10 and held a 61-51 edge and led 61-53 after three quarters.

"We played very well for three quarters," said FGCU women's basketball coach Karl Smesko. "They are big and physical. They wore us down and we gave up a lot of easy baskets in the fourth quarter."

An Emma List layup early in the fourth quarter had FGCU within 65-57, but Stanford went on a 15-3 run off a series of layups and an Indya Nivar 3-pointer to go up 80-60 midway through the final frame and the Eagles would not get closer than 19 the rest of the game.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who has compiled the most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball in her 44-year career, improved her overall record to 1,163-260. Smesko, who owns a winning percentage of .826, ranks ahead of the VanDerveer in all-time winning percentage for active coaches, and trails only Geno Auriemma (.885) and Kim Mulkey (.858).

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: FGCU women's basketball loses first game of the season to No. 2 Stanford