Stanford at Arizona, Second to last PAC-10 Game

Well, C and R are afraid this will not be a very good run down of the Stanford Women’s Basketball game against Arizona. It wasn’t on TV, of course, and Gametracker was down for every game, at least on our computer. We got KZSU live on the Internet, but it was hard for us to follow the action. But then luck of all luck, a fan who was there courtside sent us a first-person account of the game! Stick around for the end of this post to get an eye-witness view.

We did hear JJ Hones was a starter for Ros. We found out later that Ros Gold-Onwude was in the “black sweat suit of injury” because she took a blow to the head in the win over Arizona State two days ago. They wouldn’t’ come out and say it was a concession, but rather they were being cautious. Well, with all the uproar about t concussions in the news lately, we are glad they are being cautious.

And we did hear when Jayne Appel grabbed her fifth rebound of the game for a total of 1,215. When she did that around the 4-minute mark in the first half, she broke Lisa Leslie’s PAC-10 career rebounding record. Jayne would end up with 8 rebounds and 11 points it the game.

Arizona kept it close in the first and got within 3 in the closing minutes. Stanford had the ball last and Jayne got a lay-up in the closing seconds so we took a shaky 32-27 lead into the locker room.

Then C’s computer asked if I wanted to install updates. C absentmindedly clicked “yes”. Normally her computer installs updates in the background and she can keep working. This time the update was for stupid Windows Media Player, the device that was letting her listen to KZSU. Media Player shut down while it installed 11 updates. Several minutes later, the computer was still on one of 11 updates. (Apple computer fans, no need to write in).

Ten minutes later, C gets KZSU back online and the score is 48-37. Still relatively close. Then Kayla Pedersen hits a three. Then she hits another and now its 54-37 and it doesn’t sound so close anymore Kayla would finish with 26 points and 8 rebounds. Love hearing that Kayla is shooting and scoring, especially in front of friends and family as Kayla is from Arizona. Maybe we should fly them out to every game. Then all of a sudden it’s 64-38 us, with five minutes left and it seems we have really limited their scoring. With about two minutes left and the subs come in. The final score was Stanford 75-48

Next is our Johnny-on-the-spot reporter, who we shall call MA, with his eyewitness account. The remarks in parentheses are C and R’s.

>>>>>>
I'm back home from the game, a 75-48 win over Arizona, and ready to give my report. I'm going to try this bullet-point style, since my memory doesn't seem to operate well in linear fashion...

• I have to note first that player of the game goes to Kayla Pedersen. She was, as always, everywhere on the court, and with Nneka not too involved-more on that later, Kayla couldn't have been more clutch. She was hitting three-pointers, putting in a couple of key put backs, and just generally seemed to be where she needed to be throughout the game. I don't have the box score, but she accounted for at least a third of the team's points.
• Nneka Ogwumike didn't end up being a factor at all during the first half, primarily because of foul trouble. The trouble all started with a phantom foul call within the first minute or so of the game. One of the Arizona players was coming up the court with the basketball and tripped over her own legs on her way to half-court. Nneka happened to be in the neighborhood, and even though the replay confirmed that Nneka didn't even come close to the other player, she got called for a tripping foul. Tara yanked her right away and put Joslyn Tinkle in -and our bells got to tinkling!. When Nneka went back in somewhere around the 12-minute mark, she got called for another foul pretty quickly -this one legitimate after Nneka didn't get position on a rebound- and came right back out.
• The upside of Nneka's absence was a good deal of playing time for Joslyn during the first half -not so much during the second, when Nneka stayed in the game for most of the half. We started our bells ringing, and even had an extra set to pass to the Stanford-clad family sitting next to us. They asked whether we had started the whole bells tradition, and we of course deferred credit to the C and R blog. As it turned out, the nice folks sitting next to us were none other than the Tinkle family! Joslyn's grandmother apparently lives nearby, and her mom was there for the game, too. Mama Tinkle reads your blog, you will be happy to know, and loves the whole tinkle bell concept (Yes, C and R did know and a big shout out to Mrs. Tinkle and Family! And Grandma Tinkle, too! We gave a genuine Tinkle bell to Mr. Tinkle when he was at Stanford). I, of course, turned into a gushing fan upon learning who the family was and went on and on about how great we think Joslyn will be for our team. (Oh, aren’t we all just gushing fans?!) Joslyn, for her part, had a quiet but solid performance, getting just a few points but really playing good, active defense.
• I can't believe I've gone this long without mentioning Jayne, who got her Pac-10-record-setting 1215th rebound during the first half. They played on for a little bit, and during the final media timeout of the first half, the stadium announcer recognized Appel for having broken Lisa Leslie's old record. That's a heck of an accomplishment, and she's not done yet. Any idea what the NCAA record is? (Career NCAA Div 1 record 2,034—Courtney Paris, Oklahoma) Appel wasn't scoring a lot of points today as she got fronted and doubled all game long, but she was still a big presence, getting attention on the offensive end and doing her usual shot-blocking and rebound-gobbling on the defensive end. And I only saw her get beat down the court once during the game, just over halfway through the first half, at which point I told my wife that Jayne was looking a little tired, and Tara apparently overheard me because she promptly subbed Jayne out for a breather.
• My wife, E, pointed out an amusing thing during the game. One of Arizona's players, who was on Appel most of the game, would frequently supplement her defense by yelling/stuttering "B-b-b-b-b-b!" I couldn't tell whether she was trying to communicate to her teammates-if she was, complete words might have been better or just trying to distract the ball-handler. It was certainly amusing to listen to. (She was probably trying to say “ball”, and then yell “dead” if the player stopped dribbling, a common tactic to unnerve a player, but we are sure wouldn’t bother Jayne)
• It should be noted that Ros was in pants and a t-shirt for the game today. She got knocked in the head pretty hard while scrambling for a ball Thursday at ASU, and was taken out of the game in what appeared to be a very appropriate precautionary move (we agree!). The Tinkle family told us that Ros suffered a concussion from the incident-not sure of their source, but it was a reasonable inference, so she must have been kept out of today's game to make sure that she recovers. I hope that she's feeling okay and that she's able to come back, but her health is top priority, and I'm glad to see that the team is protecting her. We'll be glad to have her back when she's ready.
• My last note is a question: what happened to Lindy LaRocque? I haven't noticed her getting much playing time this season, but she did see a fair amount of court time in today's game, probably because of Ros's absence. Lindy used to have more of a swagger, and would shoot the ball anytime she had a little bit of space -and sometimes when she didn't. I don't think she shot the ball once in today's game, even though she had some open looks. Maybe the coaches told her to cut back on her fire-away approach and she took it too much to heart? I, for one, loved her fearlessness, and it just wasn't there today--I hope that's a fluke and not a trend.

OK, I think that about covers what stands out to me. As for the Arizona fans, they weren't a problem because they mostly weren't there. Attendance was barely over 2,000, and there were a sizeable number of Stanford fans accounting for a chunk of that total. Arizona, for their part, didn't get a whole lot done to energize their fans. They did hang around for much of the first half, but this was yet another game in the apparent pattern of Stanford starting slow and allowing teams to stay close until the second half march towards a big win. Ibekwe, their best player-I think you all called her Arizona's version of Nneka- (yes, also baby Nneka and Nneka’s twin) was pretty quiet throughout the first, and didn't start making good-looking plays until it was already too late for them to mean much to the outcome (although we did hear Ibekwe wrapped her arms around Jayne at one point and Jayne got called for the foul). But E and I had a lot of fun. And I hope that you will give a big shout-out on our behalf to the Tinkle family, who were kind enough to lend us their Joslyn's talent for a few more years to come.

Cheers,
MA

More Stanford Goodies at the original C and R's Stanford Women's Basketball Blog

Stanford's Victory at Arizona State

The Stanford Women’s Basketball game vs. Arizona State is, surprise, surprise, on TV, and R, being the resident season ticket holder, gets an email that a local bar in Los Gatos is showing the game and has invited ticket holders and all fans Stanford to attend. Wow. On TV and having the broadcast shown in a sports bar that serves alcohol no less, how lucky can we get? C and R will be there. We are warned it is a rare 6 PM start, so we head down there with plenty of time to get a table and order some food and have a grown up beverage.

C and R nod to the other Stanford fans, all decked out in Stanford gear to show their Stanford support with the added bonus of receiving 15% off their bar bill, hee hee. Then we discover there will be a raffle and prizes! Could this day turn out any better? The prizes are the shirts they throw when Stanford makes a three point shot, which is good because during the Stanford games, they NEVER throw to the section where C and R sit. But wait, there’s more, as they say on TV. There is a grand prize of a Stanford basketball that has been autographed by this year’s team. C wants the grand prize! She asks if they will be throwing the shirts if a three pointer is made and she gets back a non-plussed “No”. Apparently her joie de vie of throwing and grabbing shirts goes unshared with the contest promoter.

As the tables fill, we see our Number One Fan (NOF) come in, and offer her space at our table and we order drinks all around. The game starts and we cannot hear the sound, which is a bummer. We are rooting for Jayne Appel to get 13 rebounds to break Lisa Leslie’s PAC-10 rebounding record. We just have to hope they flash a graphic if she does. Funny thing is we can hear the commercials perfectly.

As the game goes on, C and R start talking to their NOF and we get caught up in our delightful conversation, first on Stanford basketball, and then broader topics at large. It is very engrossing. So much so that we barely register we are up10-0 due to poor Arizona State shooting in the first four minutes. That and we completely forget to make fun of Arizona State’s head coach Charli Turner Thorne’s high heels.

When the first media time out happens, the contest promoter picks a name out of the raffle bin. It is not C nor R, and this is a good thing, C figures, as she now does not want to win the T-Shirt and wants two chances at the grand prize drawing in the end for the basketball. Sure enough, during the third media time out, C’s name gets picked out of the raffle tin and she has won a shirt! Oh well, a prize is a prize. R still has a shot at the basketball. C asks the contest promoter to throw the shirt at her, as if Stanford has just shot and made a three-pointer. He walks over and gives an unenthusiastic throw about three inches to her hands. Sigh.

C did remember to bring her tinkle bell, and she shakes it when Joslyn Tinkle comes in the game. A knowledgeable fan says you can shake it here legally (see, audience members are not allowed to have artificial noise makers at the game, but our small tinkle bell is hardly a “noise-maker’). Tinkle would get 4 points and attempt one three-pointer but missed. Speaking of three pointers, with the shot clock winding down, Jayne had the ball on the three-point line and had to shoot. It had no chance of going in, and hit off the lip of the rim. I think that makes three attempts at three point shots in her career!

Somehow during our conversation, we look up and it is 29-20 with a few seconds to go in the first half. What happened? We wish we could tell you how or why Stanford went so cold, but we kinda weren’t paying attention, Whoopsies, our bad, but in our defense, we were in a bar. The half time graphics for Jayne Appel said she had 10 rebounds, C swears. Imagine her chagrin when she reads it the paper this morning Jayne as only credited with 8 rebounds. Either the conversation was that good or the adult beverages kicked in. Maybe the scorers went back and decided some of the rebounds weren’t legit. We did see Jayne grab a rebound and then fumble it out of bounds. Does that count as a rebound? Well, at least she is only four away from the record with two games left.

We drift in and out of the second half and Stanford just can’t seem to pull away. In fact, Arizona State gets to within 8 around the 14-minute mark. Then Jayne took over, scoring easily. She would end the game with 19 points and her 8 rebounds. Kayla Pedersen would get 12 points, closely followed by Jeanette Pohlen’s 11. We would win 62-43, a low scoring affair.

With this win, Stanford has won the regular season PAC-10 title and the winner of the autographed ball was not R. Still, it was a fun time out with like-minded Stanford fans. We are looking forward to traveling to Cal (C’s sister-in-law magically dropped off two free tickets to the game) to see Stanford in person.

Get more Stanford Goodies at the original C and R's Stanford Women's Basketball Blog

Stanford Seniors

Sorry for posting this story so late but C and R finally stopped crying. It was senior night and Jayne Appel’s last game at Maples in the regular season. (There’s a chance she and Stanford could play the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Maples).

Four other seniors were also honored, although three of them could come back. Strange, I know. The true seniors are Jayne and Ros Gold-Onwude. The other “seniors”, JJ Hones, Michelle Harrison and Melanie Murphy, each have a year of eligibility left, although only JJ hinted she would be back.

Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer finally figured out after Jayne’s freshmen year that the seniors get too emotional to do the tribute before the game and don’t play as well, so they have wisely moved the senior tribute to after the game on the Maples floor. Then the real fun begins as a smaller party moves a building over to sit down with the families and listen to them tell funny and embarrassing stories about the seniors. Last night most of the stories involved golf carts and Jayne’s flip-flops.

But first there was a game to be played against Oregon State. So, remember how C and R said when the Stanford Women’s Basketball team played Oregon and Oregon pushed the ball up court and played a quick game, we enjoyed it and responded with a lot of energy and baskets? ‘Member? Well, Oregon State came out slower and more plodding and we did too, missing Oregon’s energy. We took an 11-1 lead with five minutes gone in the game and with 10 minutes gone it was 21-7 Stanford. We know, we know, we are spoiled and we should be happy for the lead, but it just seemed so…routine. Every time we spotted Jayne one-on-one, we gave it to her and she scored. Nneka Ogwumike couldn’t be stopped or even held to the ground, except when she was all alone on a fast break, and we mean ALL alone, no one from Oregon State even in the front court with her and she did a stutter step without dribbling to get the traveling call. Who was she trying to fake out? The cheerleaders?

Jayne ONLY scored 12 and got 10 rebounds, a double-double, but around the 8 minute mark she got her 2,000th point. That, coupled with her over 1,000 rebounds puts her as only the third Stanford women’s basketball player to get to the 2,000-1,000 club. The other two are Val Whiting and Nicole Powell. What’s more astounding to C and R is the fact she is 13 rebounds shy of Lisa Leslie’s PAC-10 career record. Jayne has 3 road games left, so we are confident she can do it. Wow, to pass Lisa Leslie is fantastic!

Oh, the win in the game (you didn’t doubt the outcome, did you? Final score 82-48, Stanford) gave us a tie for the PAC-10 regular season title, and a win in any of our next three road games will clinch it outright. But as we said, our opponent was lacking in energy and made us feel slow, too. In the first half Oregon State could only muster 26% shooting percentage for 21 points. Contrast that with 70% shooting percentage for Stanford and 46 first half points and you can see why we won.

It was interesting when they did the senior tribute on the big video screen. They showed still pictures and video of the women in action. The song playing in the background had the lyrics “Here comes the rest of our lives”. Basketball has been a big part of these players’ lives for so long. Will they be able to walk away from it? Jayne Appel has a good chance to be drafted by the WNBA. We wonder if she really wants to go? She has mentioned she would love to go to law school and give back to the community by being an advocate for the mentally and physically challenged. Maybe she should get on with “the rest of her life” and go to law school. Then again, a few years in the WNBA might enable her to build up tuition for law school. With her eligibility used up, she can’t keep attending Stanford for free, ya know. Still, it’s nice to know she has options.

We’ll get to see Stanford again at Cal’s senior night in two weeks!

Stanford vs. USC on Super Sunday

I just want to say this about the Stanford Women’s Basketball game vs. USC on Sunday… Peyton Manning looked so good until that one and only interception! Okay, it was a banner day for sports fans in that there was a Stanford women’s basketball game on Cable TV no less, and the Superbowl, a culmination of six months of football.

For a basketball game that was changed to the Sunday of the Superbowl, it was a pretty good turn out of over 4,100. Of course, Stanford was also honoring their 1990 team that won Stanford’s first National Championship, a team that has a special place in Stanford fans’ hearts.
Before the Stanford game, both C and R worked hard to get our Superbowl party preparations in order. Here’s all you need to know about C and R. R went to the local farm by C’s house to buy fresh veggies (twice) and C went to the store (twice) to make sure she had enough salty chips and dip. In fact, C forgot the dip mix and had to rush back to the store and R forgot fresh cauliflower and rushed back to the farm. But we had the dip a chillin’ and the bugs scrubbed out before we left for the Stanford game at 1 PM.

The game opened with Nneka Ogwumike on fire, rebounding and scoring, then it seemed her knees were bothering her and she leveled off. USC had some cool road uniforms, all black, but had the worst luck shooting we have ever seen a team have. The first half stats said USC shot 9.7% from the field and made zero threes. The score at the half was Stanford 29, USC 10. Yes, that’s right, they only mustered 10 points by half time. It was the lowest scoring half in USC’s program history. The 10 points they scored in the first half surpassed the school's previous-low of 15 on Jan. 27, 1990. And it was not that Stanford over powered them. They got great looks and made great shot selections. They hustled the ball up the court. Just nothing fell through. Boy, we bet USC coach Michael Cooper was wishing he never left the WNBA and Candace Parker.

Plus, the whole 1990 Stanford National Championship team sat right in front of our seats. (Every day C thanks R for maintaining those season tickets!). Look, there’s Jennifer Azzi, there’s Katy Steding, now they are hugging Molly Goodenbauer.

Also in the first half, Jayne Appel surpassed Nicole Powell to become Stanford’s rebound Queen with 1,153. She would finish the game with 13 rebounds and 15 points. Our other twin towers also got a double double. Nneka finished with 13 boards and 16 points, and Kayla Perdresen had 14 boards and 18 points. It’s nice to see our three tall trees have a great game and spread the scoring around. When you have three players that can score and rebound like that, you are hard to beat.

The only negative for Stanford was when they pressed us we made turnovers. We had 10 in the first half. When they pressured Jeanette Pohlen, they picked her pocket and forced her into a bad pass on consecutive plays. We have to improve on the press if we want to have any realistic shot at beating UConn. Oh, wait, make that two negatives. We missed a lot of free throws in the first half, too. For the game we were 12 of 19, about 63%. This ain’t high school and we need to make those.

We do want to give a special shout out to USC’s Jacki Gemelos. This kid has torn her ACL FOUR times. She has had five knee surgeries. She first came to USC in 2006. She has two years of college eligibility left after this year. Her first game back was at Cal on Thursday. She played on Sunday and scored 13 points in her team’s loss. Pretty remarkable in that the team made only 12 for 67 baskets in the whole game.

The only drama was could our subs, who came in around the 3 minute mark, keep them under 40. We did, the final score being 77-39. See UConn, we can (almost) beat teams by 40 points, too.

Oh, we mentioned to the announcer of the game, you know, the guy who sits next to Lisa Leslie and told him we shake the Tinkle Bells when Joslyn Tinkle comes in the game. He said last game he would mention it on the air. So we reminded him again. WE shook them hard when Joslyn came in. We forgot to tape the game, so we wonder if her kept his promise. Did anyone hear if he mentioned the tinkle bells?

USC

With heavy hearts C and R turn on our respective computers to watch the stupid GameTracker, the online version of live stats (Yes, this is blog #862 complaining about Women’s basketball NEVER BEING ON NETWORK TV!).

To backtrack, C came over to R’s house to watch the Stanford Women’s Basketball Team take on USC. We turned on our two computers because GameTracker freezes up all the time, usually around the 17-minute mark, so we thought that with constantly refreshing our screens we could see the majority of the game. As C’s computer is booting up, R reminds her we have three hurt point guards. C does her best Homer Simpson imitation (Don’t forget to tune in to the Simpson’s 20th Anniversary Hour Sunday) and says, “D’oh!”

When GameTracker finally starts we see Jeanette Pohlen, one of the three hurt guards playing. Well, she did just have a sprained ankle and not the knee swelling of the other two. We read, not see, that Kayla Pederson makes a basket, Nneka Ogwumike has a fast break lay up, Jayne Appel makes a block…and suddenly we are up 30-7. It looks like a great game…that we are missing! (Blog #862 and a half about women’s basketball not being televised…)

During that time, Jayne is on a tear and we hope she is back to her old self and not bothered by her knee. Joslyn Tinkle comes in with Jayne instead of for Jayne, a rarity that they get to play together, and as we shake our imaginary tinkle bells, we cannot help but think of her new, inadvertent nickname, Jingle. Then we read Jingle misses a three! Jayne rebounds and puts it in, and R notes that is something Jingle can do that Jayne can’t, and that is hit a three. An interesting dimension for her, one we might need to explore more next year when we don’t have Jayne.

With the constant freezing of our scoreboard and refreshing R notices USC finally gets to double digits with 8:58 left in the first half, with them hitting a three to go from 9 to 12 points. We are killing them. JJ Hones has come in, injured guard number 2, so her knee must be feeling better.

Kayla now grows cold, and is 5 for 9 from the field. Jingle fouls and gets subbed out, replaced by Jayne, which is more common, and now it is 33-16. They have almost half our score. Nneka gets cold, making misses. Is this a comeback?

Then we don’t score for 2 and a half minutes. Then it is 35-21, us. Then our computers freeze. Then Kalya gets her tenth rebound with 5:46 left in the half. Wow, she is already in double digits for rebounds in the first half.

Okay, we are enjoying the one perk seeing the game this way in that can see instant stats. For example, we are shooting 53% to their 35% and have 22 rebounds to their 7. Yes, they only have 7 rebounds. Then JJ Hones misses a three and then comes right back and misses another three. We are 0-8 from three-point land. Not good.

The half ends 39-25, with us in the lead. GameTracker pops up a screen saying Kayla leads with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Jayne with 8 points and 8 rebounds. How symmetrical!

We start to watch a rerun of Glee while we are waiting for GameTracker to start the second half. It’s the one where that woman from Wicked comes on to corrupt our sweet innocent kids from McKinley High. Oh wait, the second half starts.

Okay, watching this exciting game from GameTracker is boring and writing a blog about watching little chess pieces shoot an imaginary ball is boring and I can only imagine reading about watching stats is VERY boring so let’s just say nothing eventful happened in the second half and skip ahead to the rest of Glee.

Except USC closed the gap to within 9. How? Well, the score is 43-34 and we see we are 0-12 from the three-point line until Jeanette finally hits one to go 1-13. We also have a lot of turnovers. Then JJ Hones hits not one but two three pointers. With about 13 minutes left, we have 41 rebounds to their 18 yet 7 turnovers to their 3. That is not good. Then we pull away.

Jingle, Tinkle makes a three pointer and we wonder what her career high is? We are now 6-20 from three-point land but our instant stats say that is a magical 30%. Anything over 30% from the three-point line is good, so we have somehow salvaged our three point shooting percentage. C swears she sees Melanie Murphy’s name in the game, which would make her injured guard number 3 to be better, but we read later she did not play. Hmmm, GameTracker….

Then the Internet goes down. We are not sure if it is the entire Internet in the whole wide world or just the wireless at R’s house. We get back on with a few minutes to go and the subs are coming in. R predicts we are going to win. We do, 82-62. Kayla finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds and Nneka added 21 points and 12 boards. Jayne alllll-most got a double double, too, finishing with 11 points and 9 rebounds. We out rebounded USC 54-27, great, but had triple the turnovers then USC, not great. We need to take better care of the ball or else that could come back to haunt us.

We also beat first year had coach Michael Cooper, who came from the WNBA and coaching Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker. So far this year USC have beat three Top 25 teams this season and thought they could make Stanford the fourth. So ha, um… we beat you! (Okay, C was never any good at trash talk). BTW, we just found out former Trojan Lisa Leslie showed up to the game in support of USC. Cool. Too bad we couldn’t see her!

Stanford continues their LA road trip by playing UCLA Sunday. Guess what, not televised. Aren’t you shocked? Better fire up GameTracker now to be ready.

Tennessee!

Here’s all you need to know about the Stanford-Tennessee game from C and R and our friends P and M.

C
Tennessee did everything correctly except have their shots go in the basket. They were stronger, very quick at the press, could out jump us at every position, and they rebounded well. In fact we could not get an offensive rebound in the first half. In the second half, if we got the offensive rebound, we could not put it back in, thanks in part to Tennessee center Kelley Cain. But the difference between this team and teams of the previous years where they won championships was the shooting percentage. I believe they were about 22% from the field in the first half, only made 7 out of 32 shots, with 1 of 6 three pointers. Stanford took a 30-18 lead into the locker room. If you add even half of these missed baskets as points, you have a ball game.

R
Summit was missing from this game. When we first got to Maples, we immediately looked at Tennessee’s bench during warm ups and did not see Tennesse coach Summit. Assistant coaches ran the Tennessee warm ups and scouted Stanford when they warmed up. Then about 8 assistant coaches/support staff came out of the locker room. Finally Pat came out right before player introductions. She seemed to be absent and delegated to her large coaching staff. Also, during the longer television time outs, the team would go to the bench and get water and talk to each other and she would gather her coaching staff separately and they would huddle and decide what they should say to the team. Finally, she would address the team briefly. Not very inspirational. In the second half, she was just mad. She would single one player out and be in their face. Bjorkland tried to walk away from her and she yanked her back and yelled at her the whole timeout. I would dread having her talk to me if that is all she did. More importantly, the players did not respond to her browbeating. Getting back to her being absent during warm-ups, etc, and the large coaching staff, I wonder if she is not thinking of retiring in the near future?

P
Pat tried to insert a spark plug with little 5 foot2 guard Briana Bass. She was speedy, would receive the outlet pass and push the ball up the court. However, the rest of her team could not keep up with her. She would pass off once, not a fast break situation and that was all she could do. Center Kelley Cain would still be at half court. Tennessee looked slower and out of shape for a number three team.

M
Stanford center Jayne Appel was back on her heels against the taller Tennessee center (Cain). She usually takes it to the basket, especially left handed, and she had trouble getting that shot off because of the height in front of her. Most of Jayne’s misses looked short or hit the front of the rim. She would finish with 10 points, only making 3 of 12 baskets, but 4 for 4 from the line.



Okay, anyone who had interest in the biggest game in women’s basketball this season so far either was there (near sell out of 6,809) or read about it already so we don’t need to tell you Stanford won, and won convincingly, 67-52.

Here’s what you won’t read in the papers (or on the internet):

C’s grand tinkle bell experiment worked. She prepared 60 or so tinkle bells the night before (little sleigh bells tied with a twist-tie so a fan can ring it), grabbed her jingle bell wreath she puts up every December on her front door (so she can hear if her teenagers are sneaking out after she goes to bed) and headed to Maples. She passed out all the tinkle bells, and when Stanford's Joslyn Tinkle entered the game, Maples was serenaded by the ringing of tinkle bells. When Joslyn scored her one and only basket, C bent her wreath!

There were scores of people wearing orange at the game! Say what? R had to physically restrain C from letting the air out of the tires of some Tennessee fans in the remote parking lot. R talked to some and most of them were here to see and support legendary coach Pat Summit, rather than being die-hard Tennessee fans. One group drove all the way from Oregon to see her.

R walked right past Lisa Leslie! Well, to be fair, R was headed to the bathroom and Lisa was sitting in the row right before the press table and got up just as R turned away from her. By the time C got over her shock and tried to flag down R, Lisa had made her way to the three stools at courtside. Lisa was doing color commentary for the game, having just recently retired from a basketball career with the WNBA and a stretch of four Olympic Gold Medals. C parked herself in the second row, about 6 feet away from her, directly behind the camera, so when Lisa had to look at the camera, she saw C’s goofy grin. Finally, after staring at her, Lisa looked directly at C and C smiled her women’s-basketball-stalker-fan-smile and gave her a thumbs up and Lisa cracked up and smiled back.

We lost the jump ball for the first time this year but did not lose the game. Silly superstition or other forces at play? You decide.

During the warm-ups, C and R discussed how Stanford looked tight and nervous and Tennessee looked loose. We also loved Tennessee’s coordinated workout/stretching routine they did with an assistant coach, complete with stretch bands. Only Stanford center Jayne Appel actually cracked a smile on the other side. We thought for sure Tennessee had the advantage over us, but looks can be deceiving. Stanford was prepared mentally on what to do, and even Pat Summit said they played well as a team, unlike her team that only managed 4 assists.

At about the 10-minute mark in the second half, it was Jayne vs. Cain to see who would foul out first. Both had three. At the 8:18 mark, Cain got her fourth, then a turnover and missed jumper and lost the battle. At 6:22 she subbed out.

Ros Gold-Onwude was the unlikely hero for Stanford in the first half, with a pair of threes and a nifty lay up to lift us to 30-18 near the end of the half. Kayla Pederson was the superstar in the second, scoring 16. Nneka Ogwumike sure got blocked a bunch in the first half and did not score. She scored 14 all in the second, mostly by taking the ball to Kelley Cain and drawing the foul instead of just getting blocked. Great adjustment.

C and R and the other 6,907 fans streamed out into the warm California winter sunlight ecstatic. We beat Tennessee!

Cal Lost to SJS?

Hey, did anyone else see that Cal lost to San Jose State and fell out of the top 25? Or was that a mirage? Are C and R dreaming of a... Stanford PAC-10 Championship again?

Lisa Leslie

The WNBA finals are set. The good news is the Western Conference Champion Phoenix Mercury will play the Eastern Conference Champion Indiana Fever starting Tuesday. Good news, that is if you live in or are fans of Phoenix and/or Indiana. The bad news is, for us Lisa Leslie fans anyway, is that Phoenix defeated the LA sparks and Lisa Leslie is now officially retired from the WNBA. I know the LA Sparks really wanted to send her out with a win and a championship. The great Mechelle Voepel writes a great article on her final game and sums her career.

We were watching the press conference after the game and Lisa Leslie was blasting people for not coming out and supporting the WNBA more. Our memories can be faulty, but we think we remember her saying she was mad not many fans came out to the deciding game three of the semi-final conference game in Phoenix. We can’t seem to find a video clip of it, though, but will keep scouring that there Internet.

Well, Phoenix could do what Indiana did. Did you see Larry Bird bought 9,000 seats to the Indiana Fever’s game three of the semi finals? It seems this Larry Bird guy, who used to play pro basketball for the men’s Indiana team, is now the president of Pacers Sports and Entertainment, which includes the Fever. He is proud the Fever are in the semi finals and is aware they have never made it to the finals. So he made the decision to put up $90,000 of his own money to by $9,000 ten-dollar seats. Players have always maintained that sometimes crowds can be the intangible difference, and he wanted to insure a big crowd.

According the “The Indy Channel,” some of the people who lined up for tickets Saturday said they probably wouldn't have come to the game, but the free tickets made it an easy choice.

"I personally have never been a big woman's basketball fan, but I wanted to come out and show my support," said Christa Eldrige.

Oh, the Fever ended up beating the Detroit Shock to advance to the WNBA finals.

We salute Larry Bird for fronting the money for the seats, but asking one person to put up the cost for the seats is not a reasonable long term solution to the problem of low attendance. (Okay, let’s acknowledge there is low attendance at WNBA games in general and not debate why. Let’s save that for another day.) What if the arena itself were to proclaim, “We have so much faith in our team and that you will love them once you come to see them that we will put up the seat expense ourselves.” Meaning they give away the cheap seats to entice more people to come to games and can gain some money from parking and concessions and hopefully make more fans for life. If the cheap seats are going to go unused anyway, I don’t see what the arenas have to lose.

Oh, in happier news, C and R got to spend the day looking at Lisa Leslie clips, not a bad way to spend a day. The WNBA site had highlights of Lisa Leslie. It was cool to see clips from early on in her career, the first season in particular where she was so happy, a big smile on early play, playing to the fans. She showed lots of emotion on every drive to the basket, would make a block and then a give a fist pump. They showed “The Dunk”, and how she immediately hugged her teammates rather than just beat her chest, to share the moment with them. We thought, wow, the WNBA did a good job picking clips where after the play Lisa is smiling and high-fiving teammates and really into the game with emotion. Then we realized as the clips kept going on, no that’s how she played, so happy, the joy showing and the emotion spreading around her and radiating like sun rays warming my cats.

Mechelle Voepel reports that Lisa wants to run a basketball academy for girls and work in broadcasting, and might like to coach someday. She also wants to remain a strong advocate for women’s sports and help WNBA rookies to be role models and be aware how they represent the game.

She didn’t go out with a win or the championship, but she went out a class act.

Smack Dab in the Middle of the Playoffs

Well, the WNBA conference finals are set. It is the Detroit Shock vs. the Indiana Fever in the East, and the LA Sparks vs. the Phoenix Mercury in the West.

C and R are glad to see Lisa Leslie and LA are still alive, although they made it close in the conference semi-finals, going to three games and all with Seattle. We would love to see her close out her remarkable career with a championship. And Candace Parker is playing remarkable well for a woman WHO JUST HAD A BABY! Let’s see the NBA players do that! We hope LA does well against Phoenix, even though we hate to root against Diana Taurasi.

Games start Wednesday.

Oops, almost forgot, the Stanford women are back on American soil, going 3-1 in their tour of Italy. We can’t see them play until November 1^st. JJ writes about all the great stuff they saw.

Remember when C and R said they met up with Michelle Smith, the reporter that covered women’s Bay Area basketball for the San Francisco Chronicle and then took a buy out because they were cutting her job anyway, at the Sacramento Monarchs Game….do you? Well, anyhoo, she has not one, not two, but three blogs! Well, really three and a half as she sends stuff to WomenTalkSports, same as us! Geez, some days it’s all C and R can do to get out of bed and get on with their hum drum lives, let alone muster up enough energy to write a blog and here Micelle has three! (three and a half!). Of course, be kind to C, she is teaching her 15 and ½ year old son to drive and she is practically catatonic after each “joy ride” that it is all she can do to get from the car back to the house in one piece….but we digress. Here are all three of Michelle’s blog sites: AOL Fan House, and CSN Bay Area, and still under construction, LeftCoastHoops.

Go get ‘em, Michelle.

Went to Sacramento and What Did We See?

So, as we said in our last post, we are going to Sacramento to watch the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs take on the LA Sparks. We finagled our way to free tickets because we are SO popular with the women’s basketball crowd. (So do us a favor, book a WNBA game after reading this! Show we are relevant!)

It is also “Women of Inspiration Night” and Misty May Treanor (MMT) is giving a speech and Q & A before the game, as well as appearing at half time. We can get in early, starting at 5:30 to see her. We are so there. MMT, for those of you who not in the know, is a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner for beach volleyball, partnering both times with former Stanford Grad and local girl Kerri Walsh.

On the long drive to Sacramento (Why can’t the Bay Area get a WNBA team of their own?) we think of questions we want to ask MMT. R says, after all that training for 8 years to get the two gold medals, how do you injury yourself dancing? Dancing, of all things!? For those of you further not in the know, right after the second Olympic Gold Medal, MMT went on the popular TV show Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) and promptly tore her Achilles tendon (AT). MMT tore her AT on DWTS. But we digress.

We bear the long walk through the parking lot through the oppressive Sacramento heat (another reason to stay in the Bay Area) and hear a great women’s band warming up to warm up the crowd. It is a Saturday night, women of inspiration are going to talk, and the opponent is the LA Sparks, featuring Lisa Leslie, the former face of the WNBA and Candace Parker, the new face of the WNBA. This is also the LA Sparks’ last game of the season in Sacramento and therefore Lisa Leslie’s last game here as she is retiring this year. We hope it will be a good crowd.

So far it is a good crowd of young girls and their parents lining up to hear MMT. It is almost 95 degrees outside and we are standing in the heat that is how much we love MMT! We finally get let in to air-conditioned Arco Arena and immediately see Candace Parker warming up. We make a beeline courtside. On our way we meet Kimberly Knight, Director of Marketing & Business Operations, and also a former Stanford Grad. She tells us to enjoy the game but C is fixated on watching Candace Parker. In the few short minutes we have been there, she has not missed a shot. Kimberly says to put a hex on her, and C doesn’t get it, admiring how graceful she looks and forgets she is the enemy to anyone Sacramento. R explains it to her later.

We finally get courtside and close up to Candace. Two young boys are waiting there with pictures of Candace and a sharpie. R asks if they are here to get autographs of Candace and they say yes, and they printed pictures off the Internet for her to sign. Young boys, not just girls! And if that is not proof of the power Candace Parker has as the new face of the WNBA is, then we don’t… wait, we got stuck on this sentence, you know what we mean…. pulling in boys because she is a great athlete and role model is fantastic and not possible even 10 years ago.

Misty May comes out and instead of having the audience ask questions, the two co hosts ask her preplanned questions. The crowd loses focus a little bit. The Monarchs have come out to warm up and now the rest of the LA Sparks are at the other end warming up. Most are watching Candace Parker. The acoustics are bad, it is hard to hear, and not intimate or inviting at all. We find out she needs ayear to rehab from her injured AT from DWTS and is has just graduated to being able to walk for exercise. That does sound like a bad injury. One thing C hears Misty say that when training and it’s raining out, don’t skip it, go out in the rain ands the elements and train. Then think about your opponent who stayed home and you are now one day ahead of them. It must take a lot of discipline and training to be the best at your sport, and get to number one, but also to keep up that intensity for eight years is amazing. So hear that, young girls, get up out of bed and train, or practice, practice, practice!

You can see some highlights here, and even the cameraman loses focus and keeps zooming in on Candace Parker. Whoops, sorry, got caught up in looking at all the great highlights of MMT and Kerri Walsh. Back to the Monarchs and Women of Inspiration Night.

Misty gets up to leave and R jumps up and gets close to get a picture with her fancy phone. Others want to do the same and at first MMT starts to pose for pictures and then the media handlers tell everyone she has to go. Little girls look disappointed and moms look MAD. Uh oh. They announce she will be here after the game to give autographs. Most moms look appeased, but suspicious.

Afterward C and R meet with Rebecca Brutlag, manger of media relations for the Monarchs. We are trying to set up a way for our blog to get credentialed and then have us sit on the media row and blog live. She is very interested and asks us when we can do it. We tell her we want to blog for the Minnesota Lynx game, so secretly we can see Candice Wiggins, former Stanford Grad and C’s all-time favorite player. She thinks it is a good idea and agrees. Can’t wait for the game in September! And we are now members of the press, hee hee, look out everyone!

Rebecca is very courteous and professional. So far everyone we have met surrounding the Monarchs have been a class act. We do tell her that the audience for MMT did not get to ask questions or get autographs and a lot of people were disappointed. She said that is good feedback to know and unfortunately, Misty had to be at a prior engagement and had limited time for the Q & A, so they thought they would ask the prepared questions and they tried to think of ones most people would want answered. And they did, they hit all the major ones, but by the audience not being involved, they lost them. She saw our point and said she would rethink next time. Wow, we got to give constructive feedback without sounding like whiners and we actually got to talk to someone in the organization who might be in a position to do something. The trip up from the Bay Area is worth it just for that!

Then we head to the Skyline restaurant inside the Arena to eat an incredible gourmet buffet meal. When offered the choice of bananas foster or vanilla ice cream topped with a brownie we take one each. Wait, I mean R got the ice cream and C got the bananas and they were both incredible. Stuffed, we waddle down to our seats just in time for the pregame introductions…and discover our seats are practically courtside to the opponent’s bench. The opponents are in this case Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker. Oh darn.

For those of you keeping score at home, so far the score is: two free thunder sticks, one free purple towel with the Monarch’s logo, and the free courtside seats. Yes, C and R are ALL about the free stuff. Oh, don’t know what thunder sticks are? Try plastic oblong Mylar balloons you blow up and then bang together so it makes this crashing noise (and hit your seatmate with). They are also shiny and the fans on the ends of the arena wave them when the opponents are shooting free throws.

While we were watching the Sparks warm up, R liked how “hands on” assistant coach Marianne Stanley was. She spent time talking to them one-on-one and was very relationship oriented. Michael is going to leave the WNBA to coach at USC and Marianne will take over as head coach. Did you know Stanley was a co-head coach at Stanford? We didn’t either, or else we forgot. So, during the 1995-96 season, Stanley was co-coach with Amy Tucker at Stanford. They both earned UPI national and Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year honors that year, and coached Stanford to a 29-3 record during Tara VanDerveer's one-year absence to coach the U.S. Olympic team. While coaching at USC, she sued them for sex discrimination and equal pay for equal work and retaliatory discharge. She does not back down from a fight and is a trailblazer. We wish her much success with the Sparks.

Hey, look there’s Courtney Paris. We are ringside watching the Sacramento Monarchs warm up minutes before the game. Rebekkah Brunson jumps high and almost dunks. These women are so strong and powerful. This is going to be fun.

After the prerequisite light show and big build up for announcing the players, it’s time for tip off. C bets Lisa Leslie will jump. R says no, Candace Parker will, Lisa has bad knees. Sure enough Candace lines up to tip it off, but Rebekkah Brunson out jumps her. She tips it backwards but the long arms of Lisa Leslie steal the ball! Anyone else would not have been able to steal that ball, except your tallest player, who normally would be jumping. I wonder if they drew it up that way on the whiteboard?

Monarchs come out in the first quarter intense. Monarchs play tenacious defense. They are on a mission. LA is having trouble scoring.

Candace Parker blocks Sacramento’s shot.

Geez, that takes the air out of Sacramento’s inside game. Nicole Powell (former Stanford) hits a three and we can sit down now, as the rule states everyone has to stay on their feet until the Monarch’s make their fist basket, and everyone who knows C, knows a rule is a rule. We sit.

Monarchs are getting lots of steals. They pick on the LA Sparks guard. She gets yanked for little Shannon Bobbit. Shannon played with Candace Parker at Tennessee and won national championships with her. And she IS little, only 5’2. She protects the ball better and moves it up the court faster. She also puts in a ton of effort on defense. And effort will win your way in to C and R’s hearts.

Parker does a two-hand stuff of the Monarchs.

At the end of the quarter, they show a MMT video with highlights of Olympic Glory. Way better than the talk. R jumps up and gets a photo of Lisa Leslie in the huddle without getting arrested or thrown out by the many attendants.

The game starts back up and it really is amazing. These women are well trained in the fundamentals of their sport and put out great effort and intensity. Shannon Bobbitt gets kicked in the face going after a loose ball and has to come out. The game is very physical and the refs are not calling anything. It is the most entertaining and empowering thing we have seen in along time and even more inspirational than the talk we saw early, no offense to MMT.

Courtney Paris (former Bay Area Gilr) comes in for the Monarchs and Candace Parker is guarding her. Candace steals a pass to her. Candace continues to harass and dominate Courtney the short time she is in. Courtney needs to get in better playing shape to hang with these WNBA All-Stars.

The crazy looking Sacramento mascot, Monty we think his name is, walks around and get in our way of the game. What kind of mascot can you have for a “Monarch” anyway? A king? A queen? Or this hairy gray dragon-hippopotamus thingie now blocking our view of this most excellent game. A young fan jumps up and says, “Monty, pose for a picture with me”. They stand right in front of our seats! C is rocking from one side of her seat to another to see around them, looking like a tennis game spectator on steroids. The young fan is holding her camera or phone out in front of her to take a self-portrait but the lens is not wide enough to get both of them. She looks directly at C and says, “Excuse me, will you take our picture?”

Now, people ask C all the time to take their picture. Perhaps she looks trustworthy. She does have a degree in photography, although you wouldn’t know it to look at her. Once, at the Seattle Space Needle in Seattle, even though her own camera was stolen while she changed her baby’s diaper, she patiently helped a tourist family unwind and reload their film (in the days before digital cameras) She has even seen people getting ready to make a photo-faux-pas and even offered her services whether help was wanted or not. But she has never, ever, turned down a request to help someone take a photo.

C, without taking her eyes off Candace Parker, announces, “I am trying to watch this game and you are in my way,” and then caranes her neck around them. That is how R knows this is a special game, because C never, ever forgoes a request for help. The fan takes another self photo and more fans jump up around C and R for a photo and Monty, perhaps sensing C’s single-mindedness attempt to see the game quickly gets the heck out of there.

It is almost half time and one of the Monarch players comes on the jumbo-tron advertising…. lipstick! She even shows us how to expertly apply it. C and R are horrified. The jumbo tron says Mary Kay Cosmetic’s representatives are in the lobby right now ready to take you order. C and R look at each other dumb-founded. The Monarchs player says for every tube of lipstick sold a portion will go to help end domestic violence. Now C and R are conflicted. That’s good, they guess. Then the music starts up and the free squad is giving out free…. something. C and R must have it. They yell and scream and stomp their feet. The guy in the red shirt gives us the freebie. It is a free sample of moisturizer from Mary Kay. C is disappointed and disgusted. R tears open the packet and applies the moisturizer to her face and neck. C gives her the evil eye and R says, “I can’t help it, it is so dry in here.”

It is half time and C and R go walk around the arena for exercise after that fattening meal. C sees necklace beads. “Are the free?” she asks. “Free for a dollar donation.” Comes the reply. A dollar later and C now has red beads, to remind her of Stanford.

For those of you keeping score at home, so far the score is: two free thunder sticks, one free purple towel with the Monarch’s logo, free courtside seats, free moisturizer, and free-for-a-dollar beads.

We see the Mary Kay Cosmetics representatives and they say register to win a free gift basket. R says she hates to give out her email and phone number. C whispers, “don’t put your email and give a fake phone number.”

“Right,” R whispers back, while scribbling her fake identity. C puts R’s cell phone number just in case she wins. She does like the free stuff!

At the start of the second half, Sacramento looks even more lackluster after the first quarter burst of intensity on defense. They cannot score or even get the ball inside due to the height and athleticism of LA. Sacramento is losing.

However, Rebekkah Brunson has not given up. She fights for every rebound and loose ball. At one point she flies in for a rebound, grabs it and three Sparks players try to dislodge the ball. She shakes them off like a terrier keeping possession of his tennis ball.

Now everyone on the court is getting mad and upset. Lisa Leslie is beating up Nicole Powell inside. Candace Parker is playing point to protect the ball. Sacramento’s Demya Walker, who is similarly built like Rebekkah Brunson, also decides to go for every ball. They get the defensive rebounds, but LA keeps them out on offense. These two Sacramento players are putting out such intensity, and yet the other three Monarchs players don’t seem to be matching it. And no one from Sacramento can score from the inside and Nicole Powell now can’t hit her threes. Plus LA can’t miss. They end up shooting something like 56% from the field. Sacramento gets down by as much as 20 at one point.

At the end of the third quarter the music starts up and the free squad comes out throwing… light up super balls. C’s eyes get big. She has a collection of super balls. She must have this freebie. Super balls are flying in the air. None are coming to her. One bounces down from somewhere in the rafters and rolls past their seats all the way down to the LA bench. C spies it and runs after it. Several attendants eye her and make a move to stop her but realize she is a woman on a mission… to get a super ball and not bother the LA players. They watch her grab the ball and go back to her seat and the crisis is adverted and now C has another freebie. She is so happy she doesn’t even get upset when the next two freebies, a T-Shirt and a coupon for chicken wings, don’t go their way.

For those of you keeping score at home, so far the score is: two free thunder sticks, one free purple towel with the Monarch’s logo, free courtside seats, free moisturizer, free-for-a-dollar beads, and a free light up super ball. Lost are a t-shirt and coupon for chicken wings. Not a bad haul.

The Winner: everyone who saw this game, because although the hometown team lost, it was so entertaining and such a display of female power and athleticism. C and R feel truly fortunate.

After the game, we see Candace Parker start talking to someone in the crowd. She mimics going to sleep. All eyes on this end are on her. She is talking, of course, to her husband Shelden Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and unknown relative holding HER BABY. C and R get a closer look and we get to see her little girl. Cute, cute, cute. Candace pours her heart out on the court and then goes right to her little girl. It brings a tear to the eye….

C and R get in the car for the long haul back to the Bay Area. They just had the best day with women’s sports.

Going to Sacramento

C and R are going to Sacramento. We are going to Sacramento this Saturday. We are going to see the Monarchs play the LA Sparks (and if you don’t recognize those teams names then you aren’t a fan of women’s basketball). We are going to see Nicole Powell (former Stanford player), Courtney Paris (former bay Area Girl) and Kara Lawson, (former ESPN women’s college basketball analysis we love to listen to, although she might be doing that again this year). We are going to see Lisa Leslie, probably for the last time, and Candace Parker (former Tennessee player and Cardinal Killer) and maybe even see her baby! We are going to be surrounded by “Women of Inspiration”, and we are going to see former Olympian Misty May-Treanor! And we are going all for free. Why? Because the WNBA cares! Well, actually, the WNBA wanted to reach out to moms with blogs to get them to come to a free game to spread the word, and when that fell through we felt like they didn’t care, and C and R were so disappointed the Director of Marketing & Business Operations herself contacted us and offered us her hospitality and the afore-mentioned free seats.

Well, actually, we felt like the WNBA didn’t care when they offered mommy bloggers free tickets to get them to come to a free game to spread the word, and when that fell through we felt like they didn’t care, and C and R were so disappointed the Director of Marketing & Business Operations herself contacted us and offered us her hospitality and the afore-mentioned free seats.

No, Really! I think it is an ingenious why to get some free publicity. We are spreading the word right now about going to see Nicole, Courtney, Kara, Lisa and Candace. Who cares what the standings are or what the final score is. (Oops, I am sure the Director of Marketing & Business Operations cares…okay, the LA Sparks are in second to last place in the Western Conference and Sacramento is in last place in the Western Conference). We don’t care; we are going to be thoroughly entertained by these talented women.

Plus it is the Monarchs 2009 Women of Inspiration Night. Misty May-Treanor, who was half the duo with Kerry Walsh (went to high school right down the road here at Mitty, and a former Cardinal), that won back-to-back gold medals in beach volleyball will speak. We are already inspired.

So come one out to ARCO Arena on Saturday, August 15, as Sacramento takes on the Los Angeles Sparks at 7 PM. Come see us in our courtside seats (or up in the rafters, wherever they stick us), either way it will be a heck of a night!

All Stars

Ex-Stanford player and current Sacramento player Nicole Powell is in her first WNBA All-Star game. With an injury to LA Sparks starter Lisa Leslie, Nicole was added to the team, although the coach still has to pick who starts. Maybe Lisa injured herself appearing on the ABC show The Superstars. No, it was previously taped? Okay. Read her funny blog about it here. And what was up with the bad basketball stategy on that show?

But we digress….

C and R was surprised that Candice Wiggins wasn’t tapped for the All Stars for the last month she had, but that is kinda the point, you have to play all year ‘round like an all star. Even the great Candace Parker, last yeaers MVP and Rookie of the year didn’t make the all star team, what with missing most of the first half of the season on maternity leave. Two of our Candice’s Minnesota Lynx teammates went, though, Nicky Anosike and Charde Houston. With fewer WNBA teams and great talent, it is getting harder and harder to make the all star team.

Watch them all play Saturday, July 25^th, 3:30 PM Eastern Time.