by Geoff Lepper
Olympia Scott wears the number "0" on her Stanford women's basketball uniform, but she certainly has been more than a zero for the Cardinal this season. One of the six much-heralded freshman recruits joining Stanford this year, Scott has leapt quickly to the head of the class by replacing injured senior Rachel Hemmer in the starting power forward slot.
"Olympia's looking better and better every game," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer after Sunday's 102-62 victory over Northwestern State (La.) brought the Fry's Invitational championship home to the host Cardinal. Scott was named to the all-tournament team after scoring 29 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in two games. Stanford routed St. Mary's, 83-49, in the opening round.
The irony of Scott's success substituting for Hemmer is the striking similarities between the two. Both are sleek power forwards who will use a quick first step to fake out bigger, beefier defenders. Both are great high-leaping rebounders. And both are emotional bellwethers for a team that has sometimes lacked outspoken leadership on the court.
"I'm just a very emotional player," Scott explained. "I think a lot of times, when a team has emotion, it gets its heart into the game. Then the game means more; we hustle after every loose ball, we do things harder, more agressively. And I think Rachel has that same mentality."
"I think (Scott's) aggressiveness going after the ball sets a good tone for our team," VanDerveer said. "She is a very quick learner, extrememly motivated, and I think gives us a real good spark in there. She's an emotional player, and I kind of like it. She's kind of a similar player to Rachel, you know, in what she does for our team."
Indeed, a glance at last year's rebounding averages for Stanford shows Hemmer led with a 7.8 rebound per game average; so far this season, Scott leads with a 6.4 mark, 1.3 rpg better than any other Cardinal player.
With Hemmer contemplating taking a medical redshirt year to allow her right ankle to heal, Scott might just be the most important freshman Stanford's had since . . . well, Hemmer, who started all 33 games as a freshman for the 1991-92 national championship-winning squad.
If Scott continues to develop at this rapid a pace, VanDerveer wouldn't have to worry about an extended absence for Hemmer.
"In the beginning, she (Scott) was really putting up bad shots," VanDerveer said. "She wants to shoot a three, so I told her she has to shoot 50 percent to get a three-point attempt. Now, her shot selection is much better, and I'm getting worried because she was five for five (Sunday night)."
"If you could have seen me the first day of practice, you might have said, 'Oh, they're redshirting Olympia,'" Scott said. "The other post players outweigh me by 30 pounds, so I couldn't even post them up and get position. So I've come a long way. I think I'm playing smarter."
Scott attributes the increased shooting prowess to simply slowing down.
"I think it's just composure," she said. "It's like two sides of a coin--I have to be aggressive on defense, then calm down and be composed on offense, actually do the moves that I know how to do. Before I wasn't making any shots, not making any moves. I was out of control sometimes, rushing my shots, so composure was very important for me. Every time I get the ball, I tell myself, 'be composed.'"
To improve, Scott works head-to-head against Hemmer in practice, continuing an educational process that began three years ago, according to Scott.
"We both tried out for the Olympic Festival team the summer after my junior year in high school. Just playing against her let me see just how far I had to go to be a good player. I was being recruited at the time, and I thought, 'Gosh, I may be a good player in high school, but I'm nothing yet compared to these collegiate players,' because she was using me on the floor. I admired how intense she was, and I sort of modeled my game after her. Actually, I'm excited when she comes back, regardless if that means I'm not starting, because that means the team will be that much better."
For her part, Hemmer is trying to accelerate Scott's learning curve. "All the things it took me three years to learn," Hemmer explained, "I'm trying to teach her in one."
Hemmer, however, has had more pressing concerns on her mind. She'll return to Texas this week to meet with her parents and discuss taking a season off. After watching her seventh straight game from the bench, Hemmer said Sunday that she should reach a final decision by Dec. 26. Stanford's next game is at home against Providence Dec. 28.
With true freshmen like Scott, Naomi Mulitauaopele, and Heather Owen already established along the front line, and frosh volleyball All-America Kristin Folkl joining the team after Christmas, VanDerveer has enough bodies to replace Hemmer for a season.
"I think that we're in good shape with the number of people we have," VanDerveer said. "We don't have the experience that we would like, but maybe by the end of the year we would have it. And I think that would help us for next year, having Rachel around to teach the post players. I'm totally in favor of her playing next year, but it's totally up to her."
Cardinal sophomore forward Kate Starbird, who scored 22 points in just 22 minutes in the championship game and 20 in the opener, was named the tournament's MVP. Also making the all-tourney team was Anita Kaplan and Kate Paye.
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