Stanford WBB Eliminated by Portland in WBIT First Round Upset

Jason Burke | Mar 21, 2025

March 11, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Santa Clara Broncos guard Tess Heal (34) dribbles the basketball against Portland Pilots guard Emme Shearer (5) during the second half in the semifinals of the WCC Basketball Championship at Orleans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Stanford women's basketball was Shearer'd by Portland in a thrilling game that saw the Cardinal on the losing end, 69-68 in overtime.

Portland's Emme Shearer put up 28 points in the win, including the game-winning free throw with just over a second remaining in extra time. The senior added five rebounds and a steal in this one, on top of accounting for 41% of her team's points.

She really came alive in the fourth quarter and in overtime, carrying the load for her team and putting up eight points in the fourth, and then scoring all nine of the Pilots' points in overtime. She also hit the game-tying shot in the fourth with a minute left, giving her 11 straight points for Portland.

The momentum in the game seemed to change in overtime when Nunu Agara fouled out with 1:06 to go and Stanford up by two. Portland immediately tied the game on a Shearer layup after the Cardinal threw the ball away. With the game tied, Chloe Clardy put up a good shot selection that clanked off back iron, which led to Portland getting the ball with just over 20 seconds remaining in the game.

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With the shot clock turned off for a second consecutive quarter and the game tied yet again, the Pilots gave the ball to Shearer, who was able to draw a foul on Elena Bosgana to put her at the line for two. She missed the first attempt, but made the second.

Stanford senior Brooke Demetre threw up a three as time expired, but it did not find the bottom of the net.

Without Agara, Stanford was down a big defensive presence and their leading scorer. She finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 35 minutes. She also added two assists to her line, but had a bit of a problem turning the ball over, which she did eight times.

Agara also hadn't seen regular game action since the beginning of February while she was nursing a back injury she suffered against Notre Dame.

Even though she missed six games down the stretch, she still led the team in scoring at the end of the season with 373 points over her 24 games, good for 15.5 per night. She also finished second in rebounds behind Bosgana by a slim 189-177 margin.

While this loss will certainly sting, given the women's program being in the NCAA tournament year after year for decades, there were a lot of signs of growth for this program over the course of this season of change.

Agara's emergence was certainly the highlight, while sophomores Chloe Clardy, Mary Ashley Stevenson, Courtney Ogden, and junior Tess Heal are just some of the players that started to make a name for themselves in 2024-25.

Stanford has a highly-ranked recruiting class coming in for the 2025-26 campaign, and those new additions coupled with the now experienced members of the program should help the Cardinal have a much better showing next year, and could even lead them back to the NCAA tournament.

Next: Stanford's Recruiting Class