Publication Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Stanford women need to regroup
Stanford women need to regroup
(February 11, 2004) by Rick Eymer
The Stanford women's basketball team, now ranked 11th in the nation, continues to have problems on the road, not a good sign when it comes to the NCAA tournament, which will be one long continuous road trip if the Cardinal can last that long.
Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer was sure her team had figured out through an extra year's experience how to handle things on the road, but it looks as though Stanford has taken a step back.
Stanford dropped a pair of games last weekend, losing at Arizona, 88-83, on Thursday, and at Arizona State, 73-53, on Saturday.
It's the first two-game losing streak for the Cardinal (10-3 in the Pac-10, 17-5 overall) since a three-game streak in January of 2001.
The losses dropped Stanford out of first place in the Pac-10, a half-game behind Arizona (10-2, 18-5), heading into Saturday's 2 p.m. game against visiting California.
Arizona State (9-3, 15-6) is a half-game behind the Cardinal and USC (9-4, 12-9) is a game back.
It's as though Stanford keeps reaching for greatness, but settles for being pretty good.
"Our team is playing at a different level than last year, and getting better and better," VanDerveer said before the Cardinal lost at USC.
After losing to Arizona, a team Stanford squashed into submission at home less than a month ago, VanDerveer said, "All you are racing for is seeding in the Pac-10 tournament. Our tournament has created a rubber match for the season. We will play again."
Stanford has been knocked off its lofty perch and now finds itself socializing with a group of teams which may think of the Cardinal as peers instead of goddesses. Losing a couple of conference games serves to give opponents hope and belief.
"We lost horrible down in Stanford," Arizona's Dee-Dee Wheeler said. "This showed a lot of heart. It is a really big win."
Nicole Powell led Stanford with 22 points. Kelly Suminski added 19 and Susan Borchardt 13.
Arizona State had its game against Stanford marked on the calendar as well. The Sun Devils beat Arizona a week ago and felt they could knock out Stanford, as well. Arizona State suddenly has NCAA tournament aspirations.
"This game has just been on my mind all week, and I wanted this one so bad," said ASU's Jenny Thigpin, who also had a career-high 18 points and a season-high seven rebounds. "I mean, we just went in and played hard."
Stanford led by 13 at one point of the contest.
"It was an absolute meltdown," said VanDerveer. "We were hurt by rebounds, we were hurt by turnovers and missed layups."
Nicole Powell had 22 points and 15 rebounds, her 43rd career double-double and 13th this season.
"I don't know what happened," Powell said. "I wish I had an explanation. I don't."
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