nt much to gauge in Alliances potential. That said, th

STANFORD, Calif. -- Even in November, Tara VanDerveer prepares her team for March by scheduling tough games and treating them like NCAA Tournament matchups.Crisp ball movement and balance carried Stanford.Brittany McPhee scored a career-high 28 points, Erica McCall added 17 points and six blocked shots, and No. 11 Stanford avenged a home loss against Texas from two years ago by beating the eighth-ranked Longhorns 71-59 on Monday night.McPhee shot 11 for 15 and had seven rebounds, while McCall had five boards and blocked five of her shots in the first half as Stanford (2-0) shot 54.9 percent to overcome 20 turnovers and spoil Texas season opener.Our team really focused. This was like an NCAA Tournament week. It was awesome, VanDerveer said. Im really proud of how people worked and Im really excited for the good things that we did and well go right back to work and get ready for Gonzaga and clean up some of those rebounds, some of those turnovers.VanDerveer, the Hall of Fame coach beginning her 31st season at the school and 38th as a college coach, moved 18 victories away from joining the late Pat Summitt as the only womens coaches to reach 1,000 career wins.After the Longhorns cut Stanfords lead to 52-47 on Joyner Holmes layin with 3:10 left in the third quarter, McCall quickly answered on the other end and Alanna Smith scored the next time down as the Cardinal capitalized on Atkins turnover.Smith, a sophomore from Australia, had her family in the stands visiting. Her father, Darren, was asked during one timeout what insight he had for the team -- and his response was a good one.Get Brittany McPhee the ball, he said, smiling.Brooke McCarty, the leading returning scorer for Texas after she averaged 11.8 points last season, had 20 points and Ariel Atkins had 14.It was an eye opener today, McCarty said. We kind of have to take that and roll with it. We just got outplayed and we got beat.A junior guard with 11 career starts over her first two college seasons, McPhee is taking on a bigger role for VanDerveers young team. And Texas, which beat Stanford the past two seasons, didnt have an answer for her accuracy.The Longhorns ended the Cardinals 28-game home winning streak with an 87-81 overtime win at Maples Pavilion on Nov. 20, 2014, when Stanford was ranked sixth and Texas No. 10 -- the programs first win over a top-10 team in almost six years. It marked the first meeting when both teams were in the top-10.That year, Stanford couldnt make it two in a row after beating No. 1 Connecticut 88-86 in overtime three nights earlier to snap the Huskies 47-game winning streak.Then Texas won again last season in Austin, 77-69.Stanford was too much this time.When you get beat sometimes all you do is talk about what your team wasnt good at but I would say that midway through the second quarter they really broke our defense down, Texas coach Karen Aston said. Were young and a little bit immature and I thought that we started panicking a little bit. We missed some free throws and our confidence got rattled a little bit at the end of the first half and we werent able to recover from that.BIG PICTURETexas: The Longhorns held a 38-32 rebounding edge but were just 6 for 14 at the free throw line. They lost a season opener for the first time under fifth-year coach Aston (4-1). ... Aston coached her 300th career game. She is now 190-110 starting her 10th season as a college coach and 89-47 in her fifth season leading the Longhorns. ... Texas started the season on the road for only the second time in the past 13 years.Stanford: McCall was one off her career high in blocks. She had three blocks in a season-opening win against Cal Poly on Friday and now has nine through two games. I love blocked shots, she said. ... The Cardinal are 15-4 at home against top-10 teams over the last 10-plus seasons and 139-7 at Maples since 2007-08.UP NEXTTexas: The Longhorns host Houston Baptist on Wednesday morning in their home opener, an 11 a.m. local time tipoff for the programs annual 40 Acres Field Trip game for middle-school students from around Texas and a day that includes educational activities.Stanford: The Cardinal have another tough opponent Friday at home against West Coast Conference power Gonzaga, winner of 11 of the last 12 WCC regular-season titles and picked to do so again.Jean-Francois Jacques Oilers Jersey . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Connor McDavid Jersey . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. http://www.hockeyoilersshop.com/mark-fayne-jersey/ . A forerunning sled crashed into the worker Thursday at the Sanki Sliding Center. The unidentified worker broke both legs and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Ryan Smyth Jersey . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Darnell Nurse Jersey . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings.On Monday, group stage assignments and wild-card matchups were finalized for The International in Seattle. The 16 teams that made the cut will be split into two groups of eight, and the top four will progress to the upper bracket. The bottom four will be put in the lower bracket and will enter the double-elimination bracket one loss down.The divvying up of talent was well-handled this year, and both groups look extremely competitive. That said, there will always be favorites and dark horses. Looking at Group A, it certainly looks like an uphill battle for several teams.Group A:OG Alliance Wings Gaming Natus Vincere Evil Geniuses LGD Gaming TnC Gaming Wild card No. 2OGThe top-billed team here is the mean green OG, two-time major winner and a team set on its first Aegis. Most of OGs competition, which has traditionally been Newbee and Team Liquid, will duke it out in Group B. From star mid Amer Miracle- Barqawi to the excellent play of supports like Andreas Cr1t- Franck Nielsen, OG has the talent and cohesion to ride straight on through to the grand finals. But as the clear favorite, OG will also have a target on its back.Wings GamingWhich team could solidify the upset? Look to Wings Gaming, the unconventional Chinese team that has been bucking drafts and metas since its explosive entrance into the international scene at ESL One Manila. Having recently snubbed OG at The Summit 5, Wings look dominant headed into TI6. Every team worth its salt in Seattle will be watching what Wings does, trying to scrim the team and learn from its five players. The group stages always provide opportunity for surprise upsets, but Wings will likely take advantage of the format to make up for its disappointing Manila Major group run.Natus VincereNatus Vincere is also riding high off its first LAN victory in quite some time at the StarSeries Season 2 finals. This fresh, aggressive NaVi squad is dangerous, able to pull games off teams any given day, but this Group A will be the greatest test yet. Surmounting the top teams and securing a winners bracket berth would ignite full-blown fervor within the NaVi fandom, and give these five players a solid shot at the prize.dddddddddddd.Evil GeniusesThe reforged Evil Geniuses squad has a lot to gain from a strong group stage as well. The team seemed to feed off the energy of having two former teammates return to the squad, as well as Clinton Fear Loomis move back to the carry role. Evil Geniuses are still a group of five players who have all competed at the highest level, and could easily be looking at a third- or fourth-place finish in this group.AllianceAlliance is boasting a reunion lineup as well, though with less spectacular results. Avoiding many of the tournaments between Manila and TI6, there isnt much to gauge in Alliances potential. That said, this is the team that won an International in 2013. It has been three years since the teams 3-2 record in Benaroya Hall, but Alliance has played these teams before. Watch out for the possibility of a dark-horse run from these former TI champions.LGD GamingLGD Gaming could similarly throw a wrench into any teams best plans. Chinese teams have been mostly keeping to their region leading up to TI6, and several squads in this group have little to no experience playing LGD. Add in the veteran captain Zhang xiao8 Ning, who led a Newbee squad in 2014 to take the title, and you have a team that could give many of these squads trouble, and might be a not-so-sleeper candidate for the top spot of Group A.TnC GamingDespite some promise, TnC Gaming has a steep hill in front of it, with little experience against any of these teams. TnC hasnt played many matches against teams from other regions, and The International is its first major outing. It will be sink or swim for Jimmy DeMoN Ho and his team, but maybe the relative obscurity of TnC is also a boon; few teams will give the same level of prep as they might for Wings or OG, so an upset is not out of the question.The wild cardThe wild-card winner isnt known yet, but the team that takes the spot will have a difficult climb. ' ' '