December 03, 2003

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Palo Alto Online

Thus far, it's all A's for women's team

by Rick Eymer

With the Stanford women's basketball team taking the next two weeks off for final exams, coach Tara VanDerveer can review her team's first five games and assign passing grades all around.

With their most recent victories, a possible season-defining 61-59 victory over No. 10 Georgia on Sunday, preceded by a 67-51 win over Boston University on Friday, the sixth-ranked Cardinal (5-0) can begin preparing for their December schedule with a quiet confidence that comes with knowing that talent combined with preparation and hard work can work wonders.

Stanford will return to the court on Friday, Dec. 12, when Pacific visits Maples Pavilion at 7 p.m., though there's probably more anticipation for No. 3 Tennessee's visit to The Farm on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.

December also holds a rough road trip through Rice and Texas Tech before Pac-10 play commences just after Christmas.

Senior forward Nicole Powell, a preseason All-American, is already at the top of the class. She added a pair of double-doubles to her resume over the weekend: numbers 32 and 33 for her career and that's not even counting the six career triple-doubles she owns. She's averaging 22.8 points and 11.9 rebounds a game so far. And if that wasn't enough, Powell has made 30 of her 32 free throw attempts this year, a .938 percentage.

Powell scored 21 points and had 12 rebounds against the Lady Bulldogs.

Kelley Suminski (14 points) and Susan Borchardt (12) are also getting good marks after turning in 'A' efforts from 3-point land in the win over Georgia. Borchardt was 4-of-6 and Suminski 4-of-7 from long range.

"That's what they were giving us," said Suminski. "We just took what was open."

After breaking an 8-all tie with a 14-4 run against the Lady Bulldogs, Stanford never trailed, though it got a little tight at the end. Georgia had a chance to tie the game with 10 seconds remaining but missed an inside jumper.

Stanford junior center Chelsea Trotter, perhaps a little overlooked in the scheme of things to date, made a pair of free throws to seal the win.

What made the Cardinal's victory over Georgia important, other than it came against a top 10 team, was that Stanford showed poise and character down the stretch even without two of its better post players in T'Nae Thiel and Azella Perryman, who saw her first action of the season in a brief three-minute appearance.

Trotter, who contends with bad knees every day, was overmatched against Georgia's frontline of 6-5 Christi Thomas and 6-6 Kara Braxton, which VanDerveer called "maybe the best post combination in the country," but she put in 29 yeoman-like minutes and calmly sank both ends of a 1-and-1 with the game on the line.

"Defense and free throws (Stanford made all 11 of its free throws) won the game for us," said VanDerveer. "The whole game we stayed out of foul trouble and that was huge."

Freshman Kristen Newlin continued to show her worth to the team and has been completing her assignments. She managed seven rebounds, second only to Powell's game-high 12, in 23 minutes against the best players she's faced yet. Thomas, like Powell, is a National Player of the Year candidate.

"Our post defense with Nicole, Chelsea and Kristen followed the rules and didn't let the ball get inside much," said VanDerveer. "When it did get inside they disrupted them a little bit."

Pinewood grad Sebnem Kimyacioglu struggled from the field, missing all five of her shots, but that didn't stop her from collecting a team-high seven assists and nabbing a pair of steals.

Even Perryman's cameo was nice to see. She received warm applause from the 5,254 in attendance when she entered the game midway through the first half.

"She's been practicing all week though this was tough to have as her first game," said VanDerveer.

Perryman and Thiel could both return to the rotation in time for the Tennessee game.

Against Boston, Powell had 17 points and 19 rebounds. She came within two rebounds of matching her own school record. She also had a team-high six assists and three steals.

Borchardt added 16 points, including four 3-pointers. She also had five assists and tied her career high with four steals.

Newlin tied a school record with six blocked shots.

"She's awesome, she's great," Powell said. "In practice, we all say to each other that she's going to break the school record and the season record for blocks."

Former Stanford player Becky Bonner led Boston with 19 points.

"When I first got here I was a little shaky," she said of her return to Stanford. "Ultimately, I wanted to be closer to my family and be happy. I wasn't unhappy here, but it wasn't the right fit."
Men's basketball

Stanford won't get much of a break for finals. Instead the Cardinal (3-0) will face their biggest test of the year when they compete in the John Wooden Classic against No. 6 Kansas (which beat No. 3 Michigan State last week) on Saturday in Anaheim at 1 p.m.

Still playing without Josh Childress, No. 20 Stanford managed to beat host Rice, 60-56, on Sunday as Rob Little and Chris Hernandez each scored 17 points.

"Somebody had to produce or else we weren't going to win or have the chance to win," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "We had to find somebody and Rob came through."

The Cardinal overcame an eight-point halftime deficit.

"We just came out and we got after it," Montgomery said. "The second half was more like Stanford basketball. The first half we were a little bit tentative. I think we let Rice be the aggressor."

The other good news is the continuing progress shown by Hernandez, who is dealing with a bad back. The redshirt sophomore guard hasn't exhibited much rustiness in the past two road games and is handling his point guard duties with authority.

Hernandez scored 22 points in a win at UC Irvine last week and came back with a strong game at Rice, as he went 4-of-6 from the field and made all seven of his free throws in playing a game-high 37 minutes.

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