March 25, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Jumping to the task

by Nathan Kurz

Krista Rappahahn grew up just minutes outside the epicenter of women's college basketball, so she, probably better than anyone else on her team, understands the immensity that is the Connecticut Huskies, defending three-time champions and Stanford's opponent Sunday in the Sweet Sixteen.

"Connecticut basketball was a huge part of my history and it's definitely been an inspiration for me," said the junior reserve guard, who hails from Lebanon, Conn., just 13 miles away from Storrs, the home of the Huskies. "I've been waiting to play them for a long time. I know what their team means to the state of Connecticut." "It's something I've seen nowhere else. Everyone in the state knows about the team, wants to come and be a part of it. I'm not even sure how many people they'll have in Kansas City. They have some diehard fans."

Indeed, Stanford will have much more to contend with than the Husky faithful if the Cardinal are to advance to the Elite Eight for the second straight season. Connecticut has won 20 straight NCAA tournament games, meaning the Huskies have a senior class that has the opportunity to finish undefeated in postseason play. They have the size, depth, speed and defensive intensity to match Stanford and will arguably present a greater challenge to the Cardinal than either of their potential Elite Eight foes-Michigan State or Vanderbilt.

"I guess if we're going to go to the Final Four, we're going to have to go through the best," senior guard Susan Borchardt said.

Both Stanford and Connecticut have strong pedigrees; since Huskies' coach Geno Auriemma took over in Storrs in 1985, his teams have won five NCAA titles and made eight Final Four appearances. Similarly, since Tara VanDerveer became Stanford's coach the same year, the Cardinal have won two championships and appeared in the Final Four six times.

But there is no doubt that Connecticut has elevated women's basketball to new heights by concluding two undefeated seasons, first in 1995 (35-0) and again in 2002 (38-0).

"They've had some of the greatest players in the women's game," VanDerveer said. "Geno has done a great job of taking women's basketball to the next level. I hope he understands how important he is to the game."

The two teams don't have much of a history. Stanford leads the brief all-time series 3-2, but UConn has won the past two meetings, including a 87-60 victory in the national semifinals that propelled the Huskies to their first national championship in 1995.

The most recent meeting between the two schools came in a neutral-site game in Florida in December of 1997. That was a memorable game for the Huskies, who won 94-78. Nykesha Sales scored a school-record 46 points, a record that stands today.

Connecticut doesn't have the same kind of firepower this year, especially after losing superstar Diana Taurasi to graduation.

But the Huskies are in line to set a school record defensively; UConn has given up only. 50.6 points per game this year, one full point per game under the school record.

More importantly for VanDerveer, the Huskies will provide a serious athletic threat for her team.

"It's going to be a battle of wills and aggression," she said. "They play an aggressive physical style like Arizona State. It's been a battle all year for us to learn how to be aggressive. "We saw it first hand in the Oregon game. They pounded it inside on us and we let them be a hot knife through butter. We know if we're not aggressive (Sunday), it's a done deal." Sunday's game is also teeming with a few more personal storylines. Among the more intriguing: Two of the most successful coaches in women's basketball history will clash when VanDerveer and Auriemma coach against one another. Pac-10 Player of the Year Candice Wiggins will play against one of her best friends and fiercest competitors from high school, UConn guard Charde Houston. Both Houston and Wiggins each grew up in San Diego and left a massive legacy. Houston, though, broke the California state scoring record of Cheryl Miller by finishing her career with 3,837 points. Wiggins became one of only four San Diego girls to ever top 3,000 points but finished third on the section all-time list. Whether they admit it or not, there was, if nothing else, a friendly scoring rivalry between the two last year. Junior forward Azella Perryman, too, will square off against a high school rival. Perryman competed against UConn starting center Jessica Moore in high school in Alaska, though the two first played with each other on an AAU team earlier. Though Perryman's prep squad won the state title game against Moore's team her junior year, the former lost the state player of the year honors to the latter in what Perryman described as a "controversial" decision. But now she gets to face off against her in-state rival in an even greater setting. "It's going to be fun," Perryman said. "It's going to be great for Alaskans to watch. We've been there before." Stanford has never quite been in this situation before, needing to defeat a three-time champion just to give itself a chance to reach the Final Four. If nothing else, Sunday will be a special night for women's college basketball.

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