March 24, 2020

Thanks for the memories, Part 2 of 2


After the Stanford women’s basketball team had completed the pre-conference season with an 11-1 record, senior forward Nadia Fingall helped the team get the Pac-12 season off to a good start with 20 points, her season high, in the 77-58 home victory over Washington State on Jan. 3.

Her accomplishment came almost exactly a year after she had suffered a torn ACL at home against USC on Jan. 4, 2019.

After the team beat Washington 77-56 at home on Jan. 5, the players celebrated in the usual way by tossing victory balls into the crowd.

Tara joins the team and Stanford Soul Line Dancers to celebrate after the Washington game. (John Lozano/ISIPhotos.com)
Players join in on line dance

The celebration became more joyous when some members of the Stanford Soul Line Dancers, who had entertained at halftime, joined the players for a spontaneous line dance at center court. Even head coach Tara VanDerveer got in on the fun.

Yet another win came Jan. 10 when Stanford sailed over Cal 73-40 in the first round of the Battle of the Bay.

The game had a festive air starting before the game when fans could avail themselves of freebies like pens, pompons, rally towels, glow sticks and lighted head bands. The latter two items cast a red glow throughout Maples as the lights were dimmed for introduction of the starters.

Freshmen help to beat Cal

The freshmen played a major role in the win. One more point from them would have tied Cal’s total output, and two more would have defeated the Bears.

Guard Haley Jones with 17 points, forward Ashten Prechtel with 13, forward Fran Belibi with 6 and guard Hannah Jump with 3 combined for 39 points. That was more than half of the team’s total, yet the four rookies played just under of third of the total minutes.

More festivities came during halftime, when the women’s soccer team was honored for its second national championship in the past three years.

Following the game, it was announced that Tara had just won her 500th conference game, the most by any Division I coach with one women’s basketball team.

After Stanford won round two of the Battle of the Bay by defeating Cal 79-65, Haley was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the third time.

Journeying north, Stanford split a pair of games, losing 87-55 to Oregon on Jan. 16 and defeating Oregon State 61-58 on Jan. 19.

Injury at OSU takes Haley out for season

The latter win proved costly as Haley suffered an injury that kept her out for the rest of the season.

Hannah hugs Ashten as Nadia (4) and Fran add their congratulations. (Stanford Athletics)
It took overtime, but Stanford defeated Colorado 76-68 at home on Jan. 24. With less than 2 seconds to go in regulation, Colorado was 64-62, but Ashten took the inbound pass and made a layup to tie the score.

Senior guard Mikaela Brewer was in uniform for the first time but didn’t play. Junior forward Alyssa Jerome was in street clothes along with senior guard DiJonai Carrington and junior forward Maya Dodson.

Defeating Utah 82-49 at home on Jan. 24 was a lot easier. Among the stat sheet highlights were only five turnovers, compared with Utah’s 16.

Mikaela played for the first time. She entered with game with about two minutes to go and snared a rebound.

1990 national championship team honored

The afternoon started on a celebratory note as players and staff from SWBB’s 1990 national championship team were saluted at center court.

At the Behind the Bench afterward, associate head coach Kate Paye called for a moment of silence in memory of retired NBA great Kobe Bryant, who, with his daughter and seven others, had died in a helicopter crash in Southern California earlier in the day.

A trip to the Evergreen State netted two wins: 58-41 over Washington on Jan. 31 and 71-49 over Washington State on Feb. 2.

After enduring a 79-69 home loss to UCLA on Feb. 7, the Cardinal rebounded with a 79-59 victory over USC on Feb. 9, also at home.

During the game, the volleyball team was honored for its second consecutive national championship and its third in four years.


Seniors and their families gather with Tara at center court on Senior Day. (Stanford Athletics)
Senior Day celebrated after USC win

Afterward, the four seniors were honored. Even though two more home games were scheduled, this one was more convenient for the families of DiJonai, Mikaela, Nadia and guard Anna Wilson.

Venturing to the mountain schools, Stanford returned with a 97-64 score over Utah on Feb. 14 and 69-66 over Colorado on Feb. 16.

These two games marked Maya’s first for the season. Although her minutes were limited, she scored 7 points against Utah and 6 against Colorado.

Everyone celebrates as her teammates swamp Kiana (seen above the ref's head) after her game-saving heroics against Colorado. (Cliff Grassmick/Boulder Daily Camera)
Kiana makes historic scores against Colorado

The Colorado game was one that likely will go down in SWBB history thanks to junior guard Kiana Williams. With a mere 13 seconds to go, she hit a game-tying 3, then stole  the ball and made a 3 from about 40 feet out with just four seconds to go.

Another home win came Feb. 21 – a tight 63-60 defeat of Oregon State.

Oregon came away with a 74-66 win on Feb. 24. In this game, sophomore guard Lexie Hull had a team-high 27 points, the bulk of them coming from her career-high six 3’s

Stanford then traveled to the desert, where it lost a 73-72 heartbreaker to Arizona on Feb. 28 but defeated Arizona 55-44 on March 1.

That wrapped up the regular season, but it ended with some conference honors for the Cardinal. Kiana and Lexie were named to the All-Pac-12 team. Lexie was named to the All-Defensive team, with honorable mentions for Kiana, Nadia and sophomore guard Lacie Hull.

Fran and Ashten merited honorable mentions for the All-Freshman team.

Entering the Pac-12 tournament, the team delivered a birthday present to Kate by beating Oregon State 68-57 on March 6. It followed that up with a 67-51 defeat of UCLA, avenging its regular season loss.

Nadia makes football-like pass to Fran

That game featured another memorable play when Nadia was to inbound the ball under the UCLA basket. She did so with a vengeance, hurling the ball to Fran nearly the entire length of the court, enabling Fran to make an easy layup.

Oregon knocked off the Cardinal 89-56 to capture the Pac-12 championship on March 8.
Afterward, Lexie and Kiana were named to the All-Tournament team.

Four days later, on March 12, Tara met with the team for the last time. There were tears aplenty as this group of players realized they would never play together again.  

And in keeping with Stanford’s order to close the campus because of the coronavirus, they were all on their way home that evening.

As the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ann Killion reported March 15, Mikaela and Nadia have completed their last year of eligibility and will graduate. However, Anna has already applied for a fifth year, or redshirt, and DiJonai is expected to do the same. One scholarship is available for next year.

Now that this 27-6 season is over, we can look forward to the promise of next season. Assuming life has returned to something more normal, the 2020-21 team will start summer classes on June 22, arriving a few days before that.

It'll be without assistant coach Lindy La Rocque. Stanford announced on March 18 that Lindy will become head coach at UNLV in her hometown. She will be missed.









March 19, 2020

Thanks for the memories, Part 1 of 2




The Stanford players always supported and cheered for their teammates. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

With apologies to T.S. Eliot, this is the way the season ends: “not with a bang but a whimper.”

The Stanford women's basketball season had been filled with memorable plays and games, but it  abruptly ended March 12 when the NCAA announced that it was canceling both the men’s and women’s tournaments because of the spreading coronavirus. 

Other amateur and pro sports also were shut down, along with much of the rest of the world.

After an 89-56 loss to Oregon in the March 8 final of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas, the team was expecting a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and a chance to host the first two rounds.

Instead, it had to settle for its 27-6 overall record, 14-4 in the conference.

Thus the players, especially the seniors, the staff and the fans were greatly disappointed that there would be no more games this season.

Freshmen bolster hopes for team

Tara is flanked by the freshmen, from left: Haley, Hannah, Fran, Ashten. (Stanford Athletics)
Everyone had high hopes for this team even though it was relatively young but with a highly promising freshman class with guards Haley Jones and Hannah Jump along with forwards Fran Belibi and Ashten Prechtel.

Fans got their first look at the team during an open practice Oct. 26. Afterward, head coach Tara VanDerveer said, “We’re going to have a good year.”

With the team ranked third in the AP poll behind Oregon and Baylor, the players gave an enticing preview of coming attractions by hosting a Chinese team, Beijing Normal, and defeating their guests 100-58 on Oct. 29.

And perhaps in a preview of coming un-attractions, three players were unavailable: Haley, senior guard Mikaela Brewer, who was wearing a walking boot on her left foot; and junior forward Maya Dodson, recovering from an injury sustained the previous season.


Stanford hosts Team USA in exhibition
Stanford and Team USA players get together before  the game. (Bob Drebin/ISIPhotos.com)
A sterner test faced the team in another exhibition Nov. 2. This time the guest was Team USA, on a tour of top colleges to get ready for the 2020 Olympics. Among the WNBA greats on Team USA was esteemed Stanford alum Nneka Ogwumike, ’12.

She had game highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds in just over 27 minutes, thus upping her Maples win-loss record to 65-0 as Team USA won 95-80.

Haley was able to play, but Maya and Mikaela were still unavailable. It would be months before either of them returned.

Games that counted started Nov. 5 when the Cardinal routed visiting Eastern Washington University 92-27.

Stanford, USF play in Warriors’ Chase Center

Stanford, technically hosted by the University of San Francisco, made Bay Area basketball history by playing the first college game ever in the Golden State Warriors’ shiny new Chase Center in San Francisco on Nov. 9.

Stanford won that one 97-71, led by sophomore guard Lexie Hull with 27 points. Also in double figures were senior guard DiJonai Carrington with 16 and junior forward Alyssa Jerome with 11.

Chalking up another win, Stanford defeated its Northern Colorado visitors 90-36 on Nov. 14. In what became a ritual before every game, Fran delivered a dunk.

Sophomore guard Lacie Hull led all players with 19 points.

It takes OT to beat Gonzaga

Winning was far more difficult Nov. 17 when Stanford eked out a 76-70 home win over Gonzaga in overtime. Lexie helped make the win possible with 8 points and an important rebound in the final three minutes of OT. Senior guard Anna Wilson helped, too, with three free throws during the final minute or so.

Junior guard Kiana Williams led the team with 22 points, while Lexie had 20 and Haley had 11.

Still at home, Stanford beat Buffalo 88-69 on Nov. 24. Lexie wound up with 21 points, and Kiana had 14. Ashten had her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Three games, three wins during Thanksgiving break

The team spent Thanksgiving weekend at a tournament in Victoria, B.C., Canada, and returned with three wins: 83-78 over California Baptist on Nov. 28, 77-59 over Syracuse on Nov. 29 and 67-62 over Mississippi State on Nov. 30.

Senior forward Nadia Fingall was named the tournament’s MVP, and Haley was named to the all-tournament team. Her accomplishments in Victoria led to her being named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.

However, DiJonai didn’t play at all, nor did she play any games after that. Her hustle was sorely missed, but she exhibited leadership throughout the season.

Estella (left) and DiJonai like what they see in the Ohio State game. (Don Feria/ISIPhotos.com)

Back home, the team upped its record to 9-0 with a 71-52 over Ohio State on Dec. 15. It was the 1,100th win in program history. The victory propelled Stanford to No. 1 in AP’s weekly poll.

Although the team’s ranking moved up and down throughout the season, it never fell below No. 8 and finished at No. 7.

Lexie makes seven steals against Ohio State

Among highlights in this game, Lexie had a career-high seven steals while adding 13 points. Haley had a team-high 15 and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the second time. Also in double figures were Fran with 13 and Kiana with 13.

As had become her habit, Hannah made three 3’s in seemingly effortless fashion – just catch and shoot – swish.

Yet another home win came Dec. 18 when Tennessee fell 78-51. During the fourth quarter, Kiana made a free throw that gave her 1,000 points for her collegiate career, the 41st player to do so in the program’s history.

Playing in all 33 games, she led the team with a total of 494 points, an average of 15 points per game.

Going on the road, the team suffered its first loss, 69-64, at the hands of Texas on Dec. 22.

Memorable play in win over UC Davis

Back from the holiday break, the Cardinal defeated UC Davis 67-55 at home on Dec. 28.
One of the game’s more memorable moments came during the second quarter. Fran blocked a shot, Lacie grabbed the rebound, took a few steps and hurled the ball to Fran, who scored, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Haley, trailed by Nadia, takes the ball upcourt. (Karen Ambrose Hickey/Stanford Athletics)
Haley had her first career double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Thus the team ended the pre-conference season with an 11-1 record as it geared up for Pac-12 competition.

Next: Part 2, the Pac-12 season