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| The players react with joy after clinching the NCAA crown. (Stanford Athletics) |
Through a season buffeted by unprecedented external forces, Stanford women’s basketball players not only survived but thrived and prevailed.
Playing their way to a 31-2 record, they won the
Pac-12 season championship, the Pac-12 tournament championship and the crown
jewel – the NCAA national championship.
In her 35th season on the Farm and her 42nd
year of college coaching, head coach Tara VanDerveer steered them with a steady
hand.
In the process, she became the winningest women’s
basketball coach ever, amassing 1,125 wins overall. The total would have been even greater if she
hadn’t taken a year off to coach the USA team to an Olympic gold medal in 1996.
Tara wins three coach of the year honors
She was rewarded by being named Pac-12 coach of the
year, Naismith women’s coach of the year and U.S. Basketball Writers
Association coach of the year.
True to her nature, she was quick to credit her
fellow coaches --associate head coach Kate Paye and the two new assistant
coaches, Katy Steding and Britney Anderson – as well as the other staff
people who helped to make the season so successful.
She also credited the mature leadership of
fifth-year guard Anna Wilson, senior guard Kiana Williams and senior forward
Alyssa Jerome.
External forces facing the team were social unrest,
the contentious presidential election and the COVID pandemic, which upended
everyone’s lives. Masks and social distancing became the norm along with
testing for the players.
COVID
changes everything
COVID was the biggest disrupter, starting back in
the 2019-20 season when it caused
the abrupt cancellation of the NCAA tournament.
Then cancellations and postponements in 2020-21 forced the team to be flexible, ready to adapt seemingly at a minute’s notice
while taking classes remotely.
During the summer, the players were home, working
out on their own and following individual plans crafted by strength and
conditioning coach Ali Kershner.
Returning players created workout videos for the
freshmen: guards Agnes Emma-Nnopu and Jana Van Gytenbeek and forward Cameron
Brink.
There were weekly calls with notables like Nneka Ogwumike,
’12, and small group Zoom calls.
At one time a 15-player roster was envisioned, but,
as allowed by NCAA rules, senior forward Maya Dodson elected to stay home in
Georgia to focus on social justice. She later said she would transfer
to Notre Dame as a grad student in the fall.
Guard Estella Moschkau graduated a year early and
played as a grad student at the University of Wisconsin, her home state.
Roster
reduced to 12 active players
Junior guard Jenna Brown became unavailable when she
suffered a season-ending injury before competition began. Thus the roster was
pared to 12 active players.
They returned to campus for the fall semester in
September and lived in the same housing complex.
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| Cutouts of some former greats take the place of live fans. (Stanford Athletics) |
Competition started Nov. 25 as the team romped over
Cal Poly 108-40 in a fan-less Maples Pavilion. As was true throughout the season, the coaches and players were socially distanced and wore masks
on the sidelines. Cutouts of fans and former players adorned the stands.
The starting lineup featured Kiana, Anna, junior guard Lexie Hull, sophomore guard Haley Jones and sophomore forward Fran Belibi, but everyone got in on the action.
By then the few students who were on campus had left for the quarter break, but SWBB stayed until Santa Clara County health restrictions sent them on their long odyssey.
Lindy
hosts team for two games
Lindy La Rocque, former Stanford assistant coach and
alum, now head coach at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, gave the team a
home for the next two games.
The team reciprocated by defeating her team 101-54 on Dec. 5. The next day, it dispatched Washington 81-50.
The UNLV game had been scheduled at the last minute after Stanford’s home games against Pacific and San Diego University were cancelled because of the county’s restrictions. The Dec. 8 game against Washington State was postponed for COVID issues at WSU. The Dec. 11 home game against UC Davis also was cancelled.
Then it was back to the Bay Area to defeat Cal 83-38 on Dec. 13, when Fran dunked, followed by a trip to the University of the Pacific in Stockton for a 104-61
win on Dec. 15.
Tara
ties, then tops Pat Summitt’s record
The Cal game meant that Tara had tied the late Pat
Summitt’s of Tennessee record of 1,098 wins. The Pacific game topped it at
1,099.
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| Tara shows off the T-DAWG jacket from her players. (Stanford Athletics) |
After the Pacific game, the players clustered around
Tara and gave her a black jacket with T-DAWG, their nickname for
her, on the back.
Following a short break, the team traveled to Los
Angeles to defeat USC 80-60 on Dec. 19 and UCLA 61-49 on Dec. 21, when Fran dunked again.
After a five-day break in Northern California with
no official practice, the team continued its winning ways in the desert by
defeating Arizona 81-54 on Jan. 1 and Arizona State 68-60 on Jan. 3.
Santa
Cruz serves as temporary home
Listed as a home game for Stanford, the Jan. 8 game
against Oregon was played in Santa Cruz’s Kaiser Permanente Arena.
Despite missing three players – Alyssa, Lexie and
sophomore guard Hannah Jump – for contact tracing, Stanford prevailed over
Oregon 70-63 on Jan. 8. Junior guard Lacie Hull replaced Lexie in the starting
lineup.
Haley who lives near the
arena, said her mother helped to fuel the team with oatmeal cookies and
brownies.
The Jan. 10 game against Oregon State was postponed
because of COVID issues there.
Team
suffers first and only two losses
With Lexie,
Alyssa and Hannah back in action, the team coasted over Utah 82-54 in Salt Lake City on Jan. 15 but suffered its first loss on Jan. 17, falling at Colorado 77-72
in overtime.
Returning to Santa Cruz, the team
suffered its second loss, 70-66 to UCLA on Jan. 22, but bounced
back to defeat USC 86-59 on Jan. 24.
Tara tweaked the starting lineup for the USC game,
inserting Cameron in place of Fran. Tara stayed with that lineup – Cameron,
Kiana, Anna, Lexie and Haley – for the rest of the season.
Traveling to the Evergreen State, Stanford swept
Washington State 71-49 on Jan. 27 and 77-49 on Jan. 29, then traveled across the Cascades to brush off
Washington 74-48 on Jan. 31.
Home sweet home
Hurrah! The team was allowed to return home to
Maples for the first time since Nov. 25. It got revenge over Colorado with a 62-54 win on Feb. 5. It then beat Utah 83-41 on Feb. 7.
After a decisive 83-58 win at Oregon State on Feb.
13, the team gutted out a 63-61 squeaker at Oregon on Feb. 15.
The team was back in Maples for an 80-41 win over Arizona State on Feb. 19 and clinched the Pac-12 season championship with a 62-48 victory over Arizona on Feb. 22.
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| Tara joins Anna (left), Kiana and Alyssa in Maples for Senior Day on Feb. 28. (Stanford Athletics) |
Celebrating Senior Day on Feb. 28, the team completed its regular season with a 72-33 home victory over Cal.
Cardinal capture Pac-12 tournament crown
Next it was off to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament. As the No. 1 seed, Stanford had a bye. It then swept its way to the championship by defeating USC 92-53 on March 4, Oregon State 79-45 on March 5 and UCLA 75-55 on March 7 to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Kiana was named the tournament’s most outstanding
player. Lexie and Cameron were named to the all-tournament team.
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| Anna shows the grit that made her an outstanding defender. (Jed Jacobsohn/AP) |
Earlier in the month, Anna was named the conference’s co-defensive player of the year and part of the all-defensive team. Lacie was named sixth player of the year. Lexie, Haley and Kiana were named to the 15-member all-conference team, and Cameron was named to the all-freshman team.
Six
wins and it’s time to celebrate
Six wins at the NCAA tournament in San Antonio gave
the team the national championship, the program’s third-ever and its first
since 1992.
The championship path started with an 87-44 drubbing
of Utah Valley on March 21 and a closer win over Oklahoma State,
73-62, on March 23.
The Sweet 16 was sweet with an 89-62 win over
Missouri State on March 28 to advance to the Elite Eight. That’s
when things got tougher.
Overcoming a 14-point deficit early in the third quarter, the Cardinal staged an epic
comeback and defeated Louisville 78-63 on March 30.
Team
ekes out two one-point games to win
Two Final Four nail biters nailed down the
championship.
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| Sophomore forward Ashten Prechtel jumps for joy after the team edged South Carolina. (Getty Images) |
First, Stanford defeated South Carolina 66-65 in the semi-final game April 2. One point also proved to be the winning margin against Arizona, when Stanford prevailed 54-53 on April 4 to capture the trophy.
Both games were decided in the final seconds when the opponents unsuccessfully tried game-winning shots.
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| Haley and teammates are jubilant after clinching the NCAA crown. (Getty Images) |
After the game, Haley was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, and Lexie was named to the all-tournament team, giving the Cardinal two of its five players.
Kiana was named a second team All-American, and
Haley received honorable mention.
Stanford set a tournament record for three-pointers
with a total of 55 in the six games.
Cameron, with 88 blocks this year, broke the single-season record set by Jayne Appel,’10,
in 2007-08.
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| Kate, Tara and the trophy lead the celebratory parade. (Stanford Athletics) |
Parade
fetes returning heroines
Returning to campus April 5, the team and
staff were greeted by hundreds of cheering fans as they paraded around campus
and downtown Palo Alto in convertibles.
Ten days later, Kiana was in the spotlight again as
she was claimed by the Seattle Storm in the second round of the WNBA draft.
Virtual
banquet wraps up season
Still separated by Zoom, fans joined Tara as she
emceed the April 18 virtual banquet honoring everyone who had made the
championship season possible.
She gave a quick rundown of the season, when players
first had to practice outside. She praised the team’s closeness, saying, “Our
team is the definition of sisterhood.”
As is traditional, she introduced each player by
class, starting with the freshmen and ending with the seniors. All of them
thanked the fans for their support.
Haley spoke from South Carolina, where she was
taking part in the 2021 USA AmeriCup Team trials.
Tara chatted with some illustrious former players
and talked about the four recruits.
Several times she spoke of returning to Maples next
season. She said she has invited Anna and Alyssa to return, as allowed by
NCAA rules giving an extra year of eligibility to this year’s players. Kiana
was already in Seattle with the Storm.
The other news emerging involved the schedule, which
includes games against Gonzaga, Tennessee, South Carolina and Texas, a possible
tournament in Hawaii and the always tough Pac-12.
The session ended with a slide show of season
highlights, evoking happy memories.
