March 18, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

A sister act in NCAAs

by Nathan Kurz

Sebnem Kimyacioglu lost her cell phone late last week, so it's doubtful she was able to engage younger sister Yasemin in any pre-game banter. Considering the two usually speak just about every day, it's a bit ironic-and very much a shame-they won't be talking much before arguably the biggest game in little sis' career.

"I don't really know how those lines of communication are going to work," Sebnem said earlier this week.

The two Pinewood grads will square off for the first time head-to-head when Stanford and Santa Clara meet in a first-round NCAA Tournament game in Fresno on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2).

Yasemin, a 5-foot-7 sophomore guard, is a big part of the reason the Broncos won their first West Coast Conference title since 1998. In just under two years, she has transformed from a skittish walk-on to a starting player on scholarship for an NCAA tournament team. Yasemin walked onto the team last year and was named Santa Clara's top defensive player as a freshman. This season, she has started 21 games while managing a 3.92 grade-point average in mechanical engineering. Sebnem's path to Stanford, meanwhile has been well-documented. As her former prep school plays for a state title today in Sacramento, it's worth noting that Sebnem was on the last Pinewood team to win a state championship in 1999. That season as a sophomore, she earned section player-of-the-year honors after averaging 20.2 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. Doc Scheppler coached the sisters at Pinewood and hopes to see them face each other Saturday. "It all depends on how I feel," said Scheppler, who will be in Sacramento today coach the Panthers in the CIF Division V state championship game against Pacific Hills. "I'll get home late Friday, but I'll enjoy watching them - even if it's from the cozy confines of my own home. "These two girls are such special kids. They know how much I love them, and how much they've done for our school." Scheppler said the Kimyacioglu sisters are a perfect example of how hard work and determination can be rewarded. Neither were big-time recruits who were targeted for starting roles in college, but their physical toughness and specific skills have proven invaluable to their respective teams. This hasn't been lost on the current Pinewood team. "They (the Pinewood players) idolize them," Scheppler said. "They went to Seb's Senior Day at Stanford this season. We're all proud of them." Scheppler said he talked to Santa Clara coach Michelle Bento-Jackson before Yasemin became a Bronco, letting the coach know that Kimyacioglu could help SCU. Bento-Jackson's response was that Yasemin could walk on, but nothing was expected of her. "They recruited a lot of guards on that team," Scheppler said, "and that kind of concerned me. But Yasemin outworked them. She's a perfect player for that team. Yasemin's like a special teams player in football. She's a defensive specialist. She can lock in on the other team's star guard and just be an absolute pest. She can also knock down the open shot, but the main reason she's there is her defensive tenacity. She has earned it. It's a great story." The Sebnem versus Yasemin storyline is a first for Pinewood. Sebnem has played against former Panthers in the past, like Lauren Smith-Hams of USC and Sarah Feely of Pacific, but those were regular-season games. This is the first time two Pinewood players have faced each other in the NCAA tournament. "It's really neat," Scheppler said of the matchup. "Every day in practice I got to see them go at each other . . . They're wonderful kids." The sisters' parents, Kursat and Fusun, both natives of Turkey who came to the United States in 1980, won't have to tinker much with school colors for Saturday's game. They just have to decide which team to root for. "Watching them play is really so satisfying for us," Kursat said in a story earlier this month. "I feel fortunate that we can make it to so many of their games." Dad and mom thought they were in heaven during a February to Southern California, where they watched Yasemin play against Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine on a Thursday and Saturday and Sebnem against USC and UCLA on a Friday and Sunday. On Saturday in Fresno, they won't even have to switch gyms. While Stanford is a heavy favorite Saturday, the Cardinal know full well not to overlook any first-round opponent -- having been the only No. 1 seed in NCAA women's history to have ever lost to a 16th-seeded team (Harvard in 1998). But things could certainly get interesting if the Broncos get hot from behind the arc. Santa Clara averages 8.8 three-point field goals per game, third best in the country, and set a WCC Tournament record by hitting 30 3s in four games last week. The Broncos also led their league in scoring (72.1 points per game) and free-throw percentage (75.2 percent). Their confidence is high after ending Gonzaga's nation-best winning streak and denying the Bulldogs a ticket to the tournament after finishing 27-3. "They came out and did really well in their conference tournament," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "But if I need to, I'll call Seb's dad to get a scouting report." She probably won't have to. Santa Clara has only two players at least 6-foot-3, so look for the Cardinal to pound the ball inside to Brooke Smith and Kristin Newlin among others.

Stanford is certainly an odds-on favorite to sweep through the first weekend of tournament play. In fact, as a No. 2 seed, Stanford has always advanced to at least the Sweet 16.

It certainly is tantalizing to look down the road to a possible match-up with three-time defending champion UConn. Stanford has already beaten Utah on the road this year, and while Iowa State has scored the fifth most points in the nation, the Cyclones seem like they would have major problems neutralizing a balanced Cardinal offense.

If there's a silver lining to all the bracket disappointment, at least the Cardinal get to ease into the tournament with two relatively soft opponents in a favorable site close to home. That's especially important for strengthening the psyche of Pac-10 Player of the Year Candice Wiggins, who, as a freshman, will be playing in her first NCAA tournament game this weekend. "I'm really excited (to play)," she said. "I was just talking about it to my friends (at other schools) who are also freshmen. To be watching it on TV and now to be experiencing it first-hand is really exciting." One last note: the last time the Cardinal posted at least 30 wins in a season was in 2001-02 when Stanford finished with a 32-3 mark and earned a trip to the Sweet 16. In each of the other four 30-win seasons, however, Stanford reached the Final Four and won both of their NCAA championships.

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