Stanford’s Brink notches first triple-double with 10 blocks

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Cameron Brink ran back down the floor brushing her hands together to signal at the scorer’s table that she had definitely touched the ball on Chance Gray’s jumper.

It took a little while, then that 10th block got added the Stanford star’s incredible stat line and gave her the first triple-double of her career — yet Brink didn’t know about her milestone until she asked after the final buzzer sounded whether it had counted.

Brink notched a remarkable triple-double of 16 points, 11 rebounds and the career high in blocked shots to lead No. 3 Stanford over Oregon 62-54 on Sunday for its 21st straight Pac-12 home win.

“I was aware, and then I really wanted that last one, I think I got it off the jumper, so I was going down the court being like, ‘I got a touch on it.’ I think I just started out hot, they started driving in the paint and blocking shots started early.”

The 6-foot-4 junior delivered the first triple-double in Stanford’s storied program history featuring blocked shots.

“I’m riding a high right now,” Brink said, “I’m really excited about it. I love blocking shots, it’s probably what I do best.”

Brink swatted seven of those shots in the first half and got her last one when she altered Gray’s jumper from the top of the key with 3:16 to go. It’s the first triple-double in NCAA Division-I major women’s basketball featuring double-digit blocks since Tamari Key did it for Tennessee in an overtime win against Texas on Nov. 21, 2021.

Stanford (21-2, 9-1 Pac-12) led 46-37 heading into the final 10 minutes then pulled away with a quick 7-2 spurt.

Phillipina Kyei led the way for Oregon (14-7, 5-5) with 12 points and 17 rebounds. Gray also scored 12 and Grace Vanslooten added 11 points.

With Brink’s imposing presence in the paint making every possession a challenge, cold-shooting Oregon missed 17 straight shots in the first half while starting 3 for 28 from the floor. The Ducks finished at just 25%.

Brink has blocked at least one shot in every game and now has 88, the most in school history through 23 games.

Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer left Brink in the game after an early foul, trusting her star post to play smart defense.

“Cam is just scratching the surface of how good she can be,” VanDerveer said. “On a scale of 1 to 10, obviously a triple-double is awesome but she’s a 5 of where she can be. She’s making great strides. And I mean that as a compliment because she’s got so much upside.”

The Cardinal pulled off a tough sweep of the Oregon schools after narrowly holding off Oregon State 63-60 on Friday night.

Oregon came in scoring 79.9 points per game with its opponents averaging 63.5 and the Ducks were shooting 37.2% from 3-point range but could never find an offensive rhythm.

The Ducks snapped their second two-game losing skid by beating California 78-73 on Friday night in Berkeley with all five starters scoring in double figures in the team’s slimmest margin of victory this season.

Oregon missed 13 of their first 15 shots and went the final 5:35 of the first quarter without a field goal.

BIG PICTURE

Oregon: Te-Hina Paopao’s second-chance 3 at the 7:09 mark of the second quarter ended the field-goal drought. Oregon shot 5 of 17 from deep. … The Ducks dropped to 3-31 on Stanford’s home floor and coach Kelly Graves is 6-12 vs. the Cardinal. … Oregon was outrebounding opponents 42.8-34.8 and forcing 13.9 turnovers, with Stanford committing 10 to the Ducks’ five.

Stanford: Brink broke the Stanford single-game blocks record blocks on Jan. 2, 2004, by Kristen Newlin. … Stanford won its fifth straight in the series. … Stanford’s previous five wins in the series were by 12 or fewer points.

UP NEXT

Oregon: Hosts Colorado on Friday night.

Stanford: At Washington State on Friday night.

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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