Tara VanDerveer Celebrates Special Win #1,000

We get so used to seeing wins out of the Stanford Women’s Basketball team, with Tara VanDerveer at the helm. So used to catching victory balls on the home court at Maples Pavilion after those wins. So used to cheering in the face of opposition the times we venture off campus to support the team in a road game. These wins always send C and R home with a smile. However Stanford’s win over USC on Feb. 3 was truly special.

We got to celebrate career win #1,000 for Tara VanDerveer and look back on her legendary career. Tara, in her typical understated-ness said this was pretty much like any game, and would be on to victory #1,001 shortly after. However, it was great to see the joy her players had for being part of this historic run and this particular victory.

There was Erica “Bird” McCall, all fist-pumping and fired up for hitting a three at the half time buzzer to put the team up 31-22, and running C’s streak of free pizzas (She had guessed 30 points at the half). There was the pure unadulterated glee as Erica and Karlie Samuelson caught Tara unaware as they held a huge orange Gatorade Bucket over Tara’s head, her body language prepared to be doused, only to find out it contained confetti. And the pride the three seniors had, Erica, Karlie and Bri Roberson, presenting Tara with a commemorative plaque with a Stanford jersey with “Vanderveer” on the back and the number 1,000.


Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer celebrates win #1,000.
Photo courtesy of Stanford WBB.
Final score, not that anyone cares, was 58-42, a low scoring affair for Stanford. Wonder if emotions had anything to do with it? The game was close until the third when Karlie Samuelson hit three 3-pointers in quick succession and added a jumper at the buzzer to help Stanford pull away. She would finish with a game-high 21 points. Erica added 18, and Brittany McPhee chipped in ten.

But when the final seconds ticked down, and Maples began chanting and cheering, the final score did not matter. More confetti rained down from the ceiling, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott gave Tara a commutative trophy. Former player and now much-in-demand TV analyst Ros Gold-Onwude (we said hi, she knew who we were!) summed up the night for the crowd, and finally the microphone was given to the coach herself.

Believe it or not, she, the master of dead-panned humor said she was speechless! Then in traditional Tara fashion thanked many and deflected glory. For Tara, echoed the many articles written before the game, the game is not about the victories but about the relationships. A wonderful video tribute played with so many people stating what Tara means to her, including many Stanford fan favorites of ex-players.

The night was attended by some of those players, such as Jennifer Azzi, who said more than a coach, Tara has been her friend for life. The game just happened to coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and in the lobby before the game, C and R walked by Simone Manuel and Katie Ledecky giving autographs and in Simone’s case, wearing flippers on dry land to race a young fan in a swim rely. At half time, Stanford introduced the National Champs in Women’s Volleyball, and just “a few” of Stanford’s Olympians, including Ledecky and Manuel. You know, every day people you might see in class if you went to Stanford.

So yes, it was great to make a big deal out of one victory for Tara VanDerveer, lest we forget every victory is special in its own way. Bay Area sports fan, we are lucky to have such a person who strives for success, yet puts more emphasis on watching and helping her players grow.

Follow C and R for more victories on Facebook and Twitter, too!

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Stanford has Unsettling 100-59 win over Washington State

What a weird game. What a weird 100-59 victory. At first, Stanford came out with its starting five and looked like a machine, passing inside, scoring, even an early alley-oop to Nneka Ogwumike and the score was 23-14 at the eleven and a half mark. Then, Stanford’s man to man defense, long it’s stalwart all year, looks confused and a step too slow and we let 7-17, 5-7 in the PAC-10 Washington State make all kinda crazy shots, so much so that it was tied at 28 with about 6 and a half minutes left in the first half.

To Washington State’s credit, they executed their screens and double screens well and freed up their shooters, and then their shooters knocked down shots. Stanford was slow to help when they drove in to the lane, to switch when picked, or even react and therefore they frequently lost their man, hence the crowds chant of, “Somebody guard number 11!” Okay, that was C yelling, but number 11 Jazmine Perkins had 14 points in the first half and actually put Washington State up 28-26 with a three with about 7 minutes left in the first half. Hecka Nneka, Stanford didn't even give up the lead when they played UConn.

Stanford did this before with a PAC-10 foe, we think it was USC, where they had trouble with switches on defense and double screens and Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer adjusted her team to a zone, and that was all she wrote. They shut down the other team defensively in that game without having to worry about screens. So, C and R kept waiting and waiting for Tara to call a time out and go to zone. And she didn’t and she didn’t and then it was tied at 28 with about five minutes left.

And then…
Stanford went on a 20-4 run in those last five minutes and went in to the locker room up 46-32. Talk about demoralizing for the other team. To be tied, to have the lead even, and then you blink and you are walking to the locker room down by 14.

How did Stanford score? Well, they worked it inside to Nneka and sister and Chiney Ogumike, and Chiney got offensive rebounds and put backs, too. Jeanette bombed a three in there, Nneka had a tip in, you know, the usual. Kayla made a save under the Stanford basket, while falling out of bounds, a backhanded scoop to a streaking Nneka down the middle of the lane and she put it back off the glass before Washington State could react. Hecka Nneka indeed! When they want to be, they are incredible.

When they blew the whistle for the second half, Stanford didn’t let up and went on a 15-2 run and Washington State didn’t score until almost 6 minutes had gone by in the second half (Jazmine Perkins made 2 free throws). Nneka was a beast on the boards, treating the crowd to ohhhs and ahhs when she would sky high and also when she would put back an offensive rebound without bothering to land on the floor. And the Stanford team as a whole was hustling and hitting the floor for loose balls, most notably Lindy La Rocque and Kayla Pedersen. And then there were fast breaks and Washington State’s inexplicable ability to guard the bottom of the basket. Its was as if their defense kept creeping up to the foul line and a Stanford player would slip back there and have an easy, uncontested lay up. First the starters, and then the bench was able to do it when they came in with 10 minutes left. Loved seeing Toni Kokenis score 13 points by driving in the lane. The crowd favorite was reserve Grace Mashore and they heartily applauded her three. Even with their bench, Stanford won by 41, after being down in the first half. Just weird. And Stanford might not be able to come back so strongly against ranked opponents in the tournament.

Coach, what happened out there?
"The second half, we really took over," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "I think our team might have come out a little casual. We weren't as aggressive as we needed to be early in the game. We had to make some adjustments offensively, which I thought we did.”

Nneka, what’s your take?
"One of the things that I think is our best quality is we don't have an arrogant air about ourselves," Ogwumike said. "We don't walk in and say, 'Oh, we're Stanford, let's just play, things will work for us.' When we're not playing or performing, it's a lack of concentration and focus."

Quotes courtesy of the Official Stanford Website.

Both teams sported pink accessories to support Breast Cancer Awareness, the second killer of women behind lung cancer. Attendance was pretty good for a game on a school night (3,252) and C and R even saw scalpers outside, which was strange because there were plenty of seats left for sale at the box office. C even got a pink Stanford shirt, although she had to snatch it away from a seatmate (Sorry!).

Records:
Stanford got their record 49th straight PAC-10 victory and the old record holders were themselves. Stanford also extended their winning streak on Maples floor to 57 and are two away from tying the school record of 59 straight wins an a row. With Jeanette Pohlen’s first assist of the night, she reached 500 assists for her Stanford career. She is the fourth Stanford player to have 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 500 assists.

Come out Saturday to see one of those wins. It is National Girls and Women in Sports Day and there will be a post game autograph session.

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day!

Celebrate the 25th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day!
On February 2, 2011, thousands of sports educators, coaches, athletic directors, recreation directors, association members, sponsors, students, and parents across the country will show their support of the Day and of this year's theme, "Play, Believe, Achieve." NGWSD is celebrated in all 50 states with community-based events, award ceremonies, and activities honoring the achievements and encouraging participation of girls and women in sports. It is sponsored by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education Recreation and Dance (AAPHERD). Find out more about National Girls and Women in Sports Day, including events in your area today!

Support the girl or women (or you) in your life who play sports.

Stanford vs. Arizona

So the first thing we notice when we walk in to Maples for the National Girls and Women in Sports Day is everyone is wearing red. Including the Stanford Cardinal. What? Why is the Stanford Women’s Basketball team wearing our “away” uniforms at home? Plus C hates those uniforms. She likes the black ones. So everyone is wearing red, except C and R. We are wearing our black shirts and are finally going to give our number one fan her shirt at half time, now that my son’s head has stopped bleeding (long story, see last post) 

Then they announce that everyone is wearing red to raise awareness for earthquake victims in Haiti and please send money to the Red Cross. Noble idea, but how did C and R miss this? We are on the Stanford website about five times a day! 
 
So, C and R look like some kinds bobsie twins in our matching black shirts, and we weren’t the only bobsie twins.  Jayne Appel is wearing a red ribbon in her hair, and so is Joslyn Tinkle, and they look enough alike to celebrate bobsie twin day every day. Then Arizona has a player that is built just like our Nneka Ogwumike. Arizona’s Nneka is named Ify Ibekwe and not only does she have a similar build to Nneka, she is just as athletic and plays just like Nneka. Ify jumps and rebounds just like Nneka and they each were guarding the other all day long. 

So the half ends (what, I have to get up early to go skiing and hope my son’s staples stay in his head, so I am condensing), and we are down 40-42. It’s weird. It’s not like we played poorly. Scoring 40 points in a half is not what C and R would call playing badly, it’s just Arizona matched us point for point, and they had some good shooters. They also had some of the Oregon philosophy in that they pushed the ball up court after every Stanford shoot, hit or miss. Although Arizona didn’t try to score within the first 7 seconds, they were out to score and as we said, could shoot well. They made 8 three pointers in the first half. Stanford, where’s the “D”? 

We also shoot well in the first half with our bigs hitting some threes, three by Kalya Pedersen and one by Joslyn Tinkle (Tinkle Bells all around, and we are sorry we didn’t get a chance to say hi to you, Mrs. Tinkle, as our little girls had a game at 5 PM and we had to leave right after they threw the victory balls-oops, now we told you Stanford won- the end, have to go to bed- skiing- and I am using dashes now so R won’t yell at me for a run on sentence- see, R, dashes!) 

Halftime was fun in that we got to meet our number one fan, as we mentioned, and sneak junk food from our little girl’s team that came to the game, calling it a “coach’s tax”. (And even though we are named “French Fries”, we did have to ban garlic fries as we had a game right after this one, although since we were going to try a new man-to-man scheme, maybe we should have had them eat a ton of garlic fries and breathe on the other team!) 

Anyhoo, Stanford kept trading the lead with Arizona and were down by two at the half. We haven’t been down at the half since, oh, Thursday, when we were down at the half for the first time all year against Arizona State. We came back and figured them out and clobbered them. Same thing here. We figured them out and clobbered them, and our Nneka beat their Nneka at the boards and points. Arizona didn’t score in the second half until 14:23 when their Nneka, Ify Ibekwe, made a lay up. By then, our Nneka had 6 points to lead us on a 10-0 run in that time frame. 

In fact the only suspense in the second half was seeing who would be high scorer, Nneka or Kayla Pedersen. It was a tie at 27 each. Jayne got 8 points and Joslyn ended with 10, with another 3 pointer in the second half. That is the first time we can remember freshmen Tinkle out scoring Senior Jayne. We did see a great article in our local paper, the San Francisco Chronicle saying that Jayne’s total points are down this season to feed emerging Nneka and to pass. Jayne is one of those rare players who wants to do whatever it takes to win and can and will look for an open player before shooting. She said if Nneka’s player just moves an inch off of her to double Jayne, Jayne will hit Nneka. We love unselfish Jayne! Also, her knee is still bothering her. Get better in time for March, Jayne! 

Okay, we do want to say one thing about our Nneka. When we write “she skies” for rebounds, what we mean is she is at a dead stop boxing out and leaps straight in the air and almost grabs balls at the rim. It’s one thing to take a running leap and go for the lay up or rim, but to do it without the benefit of any forward momentum is impressive to see in person. And she made some impressive “skies” in this game, too. 
So we came back and beat them 83-62. So, is it that the PAC-10 is good this year or do we play down or mirror the team we are playing in the first half until we figure them out and then play Stanford ball in the second half? R votes for the former and C votes for the latter. 

We rush out after the end of the game as NO red victory balls were thrown our way (Stanford, what’s up with that?) hike all the way to our car (some other event made parking even worse) drive to our little girl’s game, review man-to-man with them before the game, watch them forget everything about man-to-man during the game, nearly have a heart attack as we go into overtime, and have our center, who we have been working with all season to be Jayne Appel, score the only basket in overtime to take the victory! 

Two for two, big girls and little girls! 

Stanford Celebrates National Association for Girls and Women in Sport Day January 30th

Help Stanford celebrate National Association for Girls and Women in Sport Day (NGWSD) at their January 30^th home game against Arizona, game time 2 PM. To help celebrate Girls in Sports Day, $4 GA tickets for all girls 14 and under. It is also Girl Scout Day, with $4 GA tickets for all Girl Scout troops, and they’re having a Camper Reunion, featuring $1 admission when you wear your women's basketball camp T-shirt. Whew!

National Association for Girls and Women in Sport Day (NGWSD) is celebrated nationally February 3rd, 2010. Thousands of sports educators, coaches, athletic directors, recreation directors, association members, sponsors, students, and parents across the country will show their support of the Day and of this year's theme, "Stay Strong, Play On." It is sponsored by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education Recreation and Dance (AAPHERD).

No excuses, think of that young girl in your life and then take her to the game. And her friends. Take a bunch of girls! Bring your tinkle bells. We were set to take our little girls basketball team, but then we found out we have a game at 4 PM. We are working on getting that changed so we can all go together.

See ya at the game!