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| Cam and Kiki congratulate Tara as the all-time winningest coach. (Stanford Athletics) |
The Stanford women’s basketball team ended the
pre-conference season and began Pac-12 play by defeating Cal 78-51 there on
Dec. 29 and Morgan State 98-38 at home on New Year’s Eve. Sophomore guard
Talana Lepolo took the spotlight at Cal by scoring a career-high 20 points, boosted
by a career-high six 3s.
Washington State fell 74-65 on Jan. 5 and Washington
fell 71-59 on Jan. 7, both at home. Thus head coach Tara VanDerveer notched her
1,200th career victory. After these games, senior forward Cameron
Brink was again named Pac-12 Player of the Week.
Playing the mountain teams for the only time this
season, Stanford left with a 66-64 win over Utah on Jan. 12 but a 71-59 loss to
Colorado on Jan. 14. During that game, Cam snared the 1,000th
rebound of her career.
Tara
sets all-time win record
Back home, the team defeated Oregon 88-63 on Jan. 19
and Oregon State 65-56 on Jan. 21. Thus Tara’s career record rose to 1,203
wins, surpassing former Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski, who had 1,202. She
became the all-time winningest basketball coach for either men or women.
After the Oregon State game, which was witnessed by
several alums, a ceremony complete with showers of gold confetti celebrated the
milestone. Ros Gold-Onwude, ’10, served as emcee and was joined by Chiney
Ogwumike, ’14, and Jennifer Azzi, ’90.
Cam didn’t play against Oregon State after injuring
her left leg in the Oregon game. Junior forward Brooke Demetre took her place
in the starting lineup, and junior forward Kiki Iriafen filled in for Cam’s
scoring with a career-high 36 points plus a game-high12 rebounds.
Weekly
honors for Kiki and Tara
Later, ESPN named Kiki and Tara Player and Coach of
the Week, respectively. The Pac-12 named Kiki Player of the Week.
Playing in the desert, the team defeated Arizona
State 80-50 on Jan. 26 and Arizona 96-64 on Jan. 28.
After a disappointing 67-58 loss to USC on Feb. 2,
the team bounced back to defeated UCLA 80-60 on Feb. 4, both at home.
USC
guard victimizes Stanford
In the USC loss, Stanford was victimized by frosh
phenom, guard Juju Watkins, who had 51 points in 34 minutes, more than half of
her team’s total.
The team then returned from the Evergreen State with
two more wins: 63-59 in overtime at Washington on Feb. 9 and 73-58 at
Washington State on Feb. 11.
It took the season’s first overtime to defeat the
gritty Washington team. Cam was the high scorer with 22 points, but Kiki fouled
out about halfway through the OT after only 9 points. Washington State couldn’t
get its first-ever win over Stanford as Cam scored 21 points, followed by grad
guard Hannah Jump with 20, thanks in part to her four 3s, while Kiki had 17.
Playing at home Feb. 16, Stanford coasted to an
84-49 victory over Cal. Five players were in double figures: Kiki, 23; Hannah
and Cam, 14; junior forward Elena Bosgana, 12; and Brooke, 11.
After a 68-61 loss to Arizona with Cam out on Feb.
23 (Brooke started in her place), she and her teammates responded by defeating
Arizona State 81-67 on Feb. 25 in the last-ever Pac-12 home game.
Afterward, as everyone awaited the start of Senior
Day to honor Cam and Hannah, the videoboard showed the last few minutes of the
USC-Utah game. Utah won, igniting a celebration because it meant that Stanford
had clinched at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season title, its 27th.
While Cam was back, Talana was in street clothes
because of a reported knee problem. Redshirt sophomore guard Jzaniya Harriel
started as point guard in her place and became one of five Cardinal players in
double figures: Kiki, 22; Cam, 14; Jzaniya, 12; Hannah and freshman forward
Nunu Agara, 11 each.
Senior
Day honors Cam, Hannah
After the post-game hoopla, Cam and Hannah had their
moments in the spotlight as the team’s soon-to-be alums.
Stanford finished the final Pac-12 season by
sweeping the Oregon schools: 67-63 over Oregon State on Feb. 29 and 76-56 over
Oregon on March 2. Thus the team secured the conference’s regular season title.
In the OSU game, Cam had 25 points and a career-high
24 rebounds. Those rebounds tied the single-game record set by Chiney on Feb. 23,
2013, against Oregon.
Talana was out for the current Oregon game and again
was replaced by Jzaniya.
Team
falls short of Pac-12 title
Traveling to Las Vegas for the last Pac-12
tournament, top seed Stanford beat Cal 71-57 on March 7 and Oregon State 66-57
on March 8. Stanford had to come from behind in both games but couldn’t do it
again in the championship game, falling 74-61 to USC on March 10.
Earlier in the week, Stanford dominated Pac-12
season awards in a vote by head coaches. Cam was Player and Defensive Player of
the Year, Kiki was Most Improved Player, and Tara was the John R. Wooden Pac-12
Coach of the Year. Hannah and Talana received honorable mentions.
Cam and Kiki were all-Pac-12 for the third year
while Cam was named to the all-defensive team. Nunu and Courtney received
honorable mentions for the all-freshman team. On top of that, Cam was named
National Player of the Week on March 5.
After getting a No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament
on March 17, the team hosted the first two rounds of the Portland regional.
It began with a 79-50 victory over Norfolk State on
March 22 and an 87-81 overtime defeat of Iowa State on March 24.
Sweet
but not Elite
Going to Portland, the team lost its Sweet 16 match
with North Carolina State 77-67 on March 29. Foul trouble hurt the team as Kiki
had four but scored 26 points despite playing only 22 minutes. Cam fouled out
early in the fourth quarter after scoring 13 points to end her Stanford career.
Hannah played all 40 minutes and also had 13 points
to end her days on the Farm.
Going into the game, assistant coach Erica “Bird”
McCall was a WBCA Thirty Under 30 honoree for the season.
After the NCAA tournament, Cam was named the
Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year and a WBCA All-American
for the third time, joining Chiney, Candice Wiggins, ’08, and Nicole Powell.
’04.
Kiki received the Katrina McClain Award as the
nation’s best power forward and received honorable mention All-American
accolades from the WBCA.
Finally, the players, coaches and staff were honored
at the annual banquet April 10. That morning, Tara had announced that she was
retiring as of May 9. Associate head coach Kate Paye later was announced as her
successor and was officially introduced at a press conference April 17.
That’s when she said that Jeanette Pohlen, ’11,
director of player development, will join her on the coaching staff.
In the WNBA draft on April 15, Cam was drafted
second by the Los Angeles Sparks.
