Women’s hoops stage is set for the final act

By Rick Eymer

Palo Alto Online Sports

This is a favorite time of the year for a lot of people, and for many reasons. March Madness rapidly spins toward its final craziness as spring bounces into view holding the promise of rebirth, flowers and sunshine.

After Tuesday night, who will remember the Alamodome? In this weird world where winning seems to be the only thing, will it be about the national title or will it be about finalizing a journey that began long ago with hoop dreams of young children shooting the basketball under a full moon on a winter night?

These players who pass through our lines of vision over the years have invested more than any observer could possibly imagine for the chance — for one moment — to play at the highest level.

Forget the egos of highly paid coaches and highly recruited players; this game, this NCAA championship contest between No. 1 Connecticut (38-0) and No. 2 Stanford (36-1), pits the best this women’s basketball season has to offer.

While the Lady Huskies and their continued dominance of the domain have, deservedly, captured the airwaves, their 77-game victory streak won’t mean a thing once the ball is tossed by an official in the air some time around 5:30 p.m. PDT (ESPN)

Neither will Stanford’s school record 27-game winning streak, Jayne Appel’s sore ankle, JJ Hones’ bum knee and all the volumes of words written or said about either team.

There’s room in the Hall of Fame for both Gino Auriemma and Tara VanDerveer, Appel and Tina Charles, Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Maya Moore.

Auriemma has become the master of misinformation during his tenure in Storrs. He has the equivalent of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain on his roster and VanDerveer has the equivalent of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone on her roster. Let’s just roll out the ball and let it all transpire.

“We might be number two in the nation all year and yet no one really knows about us,” Stanford guard Jeanette Pohlen said. “We’re here to win a national championship; we’re not here to mess around. We respect all their players; they’re great players and great people. We know a lot of them and we really can’t say anything bad about them. They’re great people and work hard.”

Since Stanford beat Connecticut in the national semifinals two years ago, the Lady Huskies have not looked back, winning all 77 games by at least 12 points, and winning by an average of over 40 in this year’s tournament run.

It is no wonder Stanford hardly has been more than a blip on the national scene. If you listen to the preachers, there’s no room at the inn.

“Nobody likes to be left out, but we just use that as extra motivation,” Cardinal junior forward Kayla Pedersen said. “The one thing we are focusing on right now, while everybody focuses on UConn, is we have a chance to win a national championship. If we were playing Baylor, we would have had the chance to win the national championship and it’s not, ‘beat UConn.’ That is what is keeping us focused.”

Pedersen knows Moore’s character better than any other Stanford player. She played with Moore, also a junior, on three USA national basketball teams. Moore and Ogwumike will likely battle each other all night.

“Maya’s a tremendous player. Both of them are great people and it’s going to be a great matchup, but it’s more of Stanford versus UConn than two individual players,” Pedersen said. “They are willing to take over a game and are not afraid to shoot. They both have a scorer’s mentality, which makes them hard to stop. “They both are incredible players and two of the best in the country.”

So what does Ogwumike make of Moore?

“She doesn’t give up. She plays her hardest,” Ogwumike said the Pac-10 Player of the Year. “Whether or not she hit the shot, she just goes back and works hard on the other end. And I think that’s very good in a player. That’s why she won that trophy. She’s amazing. I’m really happy for her. Obviously, she’s a really good shooter. One thing about her is that she really knows how to create her shot and she reads the defense well when we’re talking about one-on-one. She does a really good job of knowing what to do with the ball.”

Appel and Ros Gold-Onwude take the court for the final time in a Stanford uniform. Gold-Onwude said he has been preparing her final pre-game speech and it will likely get personal. She’s enjoyed her best year yet.

Appel has not had her best year, but she’s exactly where she wants to be: playing for a national championship.

“I have just been trying to play through it and trying to forget about it during the game and hope that I don’t feel it,” Appel said. “It hurts, but I really don’t think about it during the game unless I come down awkwardly on it.”

Appel will likely be matched against Charles most of the game. The two seniors have been friendly for many years and have been messaging each other through the tournament.

“That stopped after last night,” Appel said. “No more texting. She is a complete player. She is a player who runs, who is soaking up information from one of the greatest college coaches in Geno. I think she has really improved her game. I have watched her since the age of 11 and saw how she developed into the player she is now — a two-time All-American.”

We’ll give Pedersen the last word on Appel: “I feel very blessed to have played with her for three years. She brings so much to our team. She’s been our emotional leader this year and has really stepped up into that role and really embraced it. She took me under her wing my freshman year and showed me how Stanford basketball is played. I’ve never had as much fun playing the high-low with any other player. She’s constantly supportive. She has done wonders for the Stanford tradition and will go down as one of the greatest players at Stanford.”