Publication Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2004
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Stanford realizes reaching Final Four is a tough shot
Stanford realizes reaching Final Four is a tough shot
(March 31, 2004) by Rick Eymer
Kelley Suminski shot Stanford into a date with destiny. Seemingly with all the coolness of shooting around on the playground, Suminski came out of the corner as Nicole Powell tried to drive her way to the basket with the clock quickly winding down and set up at the top of the key.
Powell bumped into four defenders in the middle of the key, found her way completely blocked, and passed the ball back out to Suminski, who without hesitation let fly a 3-point shot that hit nothing but net with less than a second remaining to play.
"We were looking for Nicole to get the last shot," Suminski said. "I saw her penetrating and I went to slide behind her in case someone went to help and they did. She made a great pass and I don't know what happened after that. I'm lucky it went in."
Suminski had time to turn around and follow a desperation 70-foot shot attempt by Vanderbilt's Dee Davis bounce harmlessly off the backboard before she was engulfed by screaming, happy teammates.
"I've never experienced that before," said Suminski, who finished with 11 points. "I'm so excited. I don't know whether to cry or celebrate."
Well, Kelley, let the celebration begin.
The scoreboard clearly showed Stanford 57, Vanderbilt 55 in the regional semifinal of the Midwest Regional in Norman, Oklahoma on Sunday night. The Cardinal women's basketball team hasn't been this far since reaching the Final Four in 1997.
Suminski's heroics give Stanford (27-6) another chance to attain that level. All the Cardinal has to do now is beat a familiar nemesis in Tennessee, a last-second 71-69 winner over Baylor in the late game.
The Cardinal overcame one of their worst halves of the season to advance to the Elite Eight. Powell, who finished with 16 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, did not make a basket in eight attempts in the second half and Stanford still won.
"I was obviously disgusted with myself today," Powell said. "I felt bad, but you've got to keep playing."
Stanford scored a total of seven points in the final 9:45 of the contest and still won.
"Shooting airballs, missing layups, I just said, 'Hey, get on to the next play and try to knock the next one down,' " Powell said.
The final assist - the pass back out to Suminski after driving into traffic - topped off what was another great overall performance by the senior All-American. She had 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the opening half alone.
The Cardinal trailed by three points with 2:37 left, and then didn't allow the Commodores to score again. Powell made two free throws with 42.9 seconds left to bring Stanford within 55-54, setting up the most important basket Suminski ever made in her collegiate career.
"It was almost surreal," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "The clock was going down, Nicole found her and she knocked down the shot. It was just beautiful. I'm just so elated for Kelley."
T'Nae Thiel added 10 points for the Cardinal, while Susan Borchardt went 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Stanford hit nine 3-pointers in the contest.
The sixth-seeded Cardinal are on the verge of regaining their national prominence and all they have to do is beat top-seeded Tennessee, a fitting opponent.
Stanford has climbed into this position because instead of fuming about their low seed, the Cardinal fought back and beat No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 2 Vanderbilt.
Now it's all about Tennessee, a team which handed Stanford its only home loss of the season, 70-66, on Dec. 14. The Lady Vols have won 15 of the 19 games played between the two schools, including the past seven times.
The last time Stanford beat Tennessee was on Dec. 15, 82-65, in Knoxville en route to its last Final Four appearance.
Are the Cardinal good enough? Come Tuesday night, they'll find out. They came within a shot off the front of the rim of beating Tennessee this year, and that was when Stanford was a one-player team. So far in this NCAA tournament, everybody appears willing to share the load.
Stanford started the game how it finished against Oklahoma last week, aggressively taking the game at Vanderbilt. The Cardinal built a 12-point lead early in the game and was ahead 35-26 at halftime after shooting an amazing 62 percent from the field. Powell had already secured her 50th double-double of her career with time left in the first half.
The Commodores weren't going to make it that easy though, scoring the first six points of the second half and eventually tying the game with 8:12 remaining. Vanderbilt held a death grip on the lead until Suminski wrenched it loose with her game-winner.
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