Virtual spring banquet a time for thanks, recognition

To say that this year’s Stanford women’s basketball banquet on May 12 was unusual would be an understatement.

Yes, the format was similar to past banquets with head coach Tara VanDerveer serving as emcee. In the process, she thanked all the Stanford people who support the team, starting with university and Athletic Department administrators and ending with the interns and student managers.

Nevertheless, it was all different. No alumni center. No round tables seating 10 people. No lavish buffet. No hobnobbing before and after.

Everything is virtual

Instead it was all virtual. Everything appeared on viewers’ screens with head shots of some people and Zoom shots of everyone else.

“How quickly our lives have changed,” Tara said in her opening remarks. Because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, the SWBB season was cut short before the NCAA tournament, the nation was ordered to shelter in place, and students were sent home to complete their classes online.

No one knows when things will return to some semblance of normal.

Many accomplishments for the team

Meanwhile, Tara ticked off the team’s accomplishments. Among the many were winning 20 or more games for the 19^th year (27-6), making the most 3-pointers in Pac-12 history (162) and placing nine players on the Pac-12 academic honor roll.

She introduced her surprise “Bear-buster” guest, Shannon Coffee, ’19, who was in her Ohio home after playing professionally in the French-speaking area of Switzerland. Tara was referring to Shannon’s 3’s that helped Stanford defeat Cal last year.

One of her thank you’s went to Tony and Linda Meier, who gave a pool party for the team in September.

Freshmen cited

Next she began introducing each player by class, starting with the freshmen. As they were named, they were seen at home along with photos of them as pre-schoolers.

n  Forward Fran Belibi: consistent attitude and effort.

n  Guard Haley Jones: savvy and versatile. After being injured for part of the season, she’s expected to be at 100 percent in the fall.

n  Guard Hannah Jump: 43 3’s. Tara added that she would love to see a 3-point shooting contest between Hannah and Karlie Samuelson, ’17, another 3-point hotshot.

n  Forward Ashten Prechtel: second on the team in blocks, 31.

Sophomores come next

Next came the sophomores.

n  Guard Jenna Brown: a hard worker in practice.

n  Guard Lacie Hull: second on the team in free-throw percentage.

n  Guard Lexie Hull: started every game, the leading rebounder (six per game) with the most steals.

Juniors get face time

After a slide show of various non-game team activities, Tara introduced the juniors.

n  Forward Maya Dodson: came back to play in the last nine games after rehabbing an injury for 10 months.

n  Forward Alyssa Jerome: an unselfish player.

n  Guard Kiana Williams: the team’s leading scorer (15 points per game) who started every game and garnered numerous honors.

n  Guard Estella Moschkau: a great practice and team player, she’ll graduate in August and will complete her final year of eligibility at the University of Wisconsin.

n  Guard Anna Wilson: an academic senior, she’ll be back as a red-shirt next year.

Assistant coaches introduced

The assistant coaches were next, starting with Lindy La Rocque, who has moved to UNLV as head coach, where she finds “a new challenge every day,” she said.

Assistant coach Tempie Brown coordinates recruiting. She also was named this year’s winner of the staff award honoring the late Dee Dee Zawaydeh, who ran the SWBB office for 30 years.

In addition to her other duties, associate head coach Kate Paye is good for a last-minute play, Tara said.

Seniors have their say

Finally the seniors appeared and had a chance to speak.

n  Guard Mikaela Brewer, the team’s first Canadian, missed 25 games because of an injury and has written a novel. She thanked the coaches and her teammates for their support during her struggles with mental health.

n  Guard DiJonai Carrington, despite playing only the first five games and missing the rest because of injury, had many accomplishments. DiJonai responded by saying what she’ll miss about each player.  (It wasn’t mentioned that because she missed so many games, she’s eligible for another year and hopes to transfer to either UConn, Baylor or Oregon.)

n  Forward Nadia Fingall also missed games because of injury but showed improvement from last season in every category. She had thanks for everyone, including fans.

“We’re going to be really good”

“We’ll miss you,” Tara said to the seniors. Looking ahead to next season, she recognized the three highly regarded recruits, Cameron Brink, Jana Van Gytenbeek  and Agnes Emma-Nnopu.

“We are going to be really good,” Tara said about the 2020-21 team, with a “tough Pac-12 season.”

The program lasted just over an hour. The traditional video of season highlights wasn’t available then, but it’s on the Fast Break Club site, www.stanfordfbc.org, where it can be enjoyed more than once.