by Keith Peters
WWith 16 games gone in the season, the Stanford men's and women's basketball teams have identical records and their sights set on similar goals. And those goals don't include winning Pacific-10 Conference titles.
That never was realistic for the Cardinal men anyway. All coach Mike Montgomerey wanted was to finish among the top five and earn an NCAA tournament berth.
The goal appears possible today following a narrow 69-65 loss to then-No. 1 UCLA and a 76-67 victory over Southern Cal last weekend in Maples Pavilion.
That leaves the men with an 11-5 overall mark and 4-3 record in the Pac-10, the same record the Cardinal women possess following an upsetting weekend in Los Angeles that saw Stanford toppled by UCLA, 80-73, and thumped by eighth-ranked Southern Cal on Sunday, 81-73.
The Cardinal women, who at one point harbored hopes of winning their sixth straight Pac-10 title, are a miracle away from that happening--especially with USC (7-0) and three other teams ahead of them.
"All I want is a top-four seed," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.
Being one of the top four squads in the West Region, thus assuring a first-round home game once the NCAA tournament begins, now will take some work by the Cardinal--host of the NCAA West Regional tourney this season.
Stanford realistically must finish second to USC in the Pac-10 to earn a top-four seed in the West Region. That means the Cardinal must move ahead of Washington (5-2), Oregon (5-2) and UCLA (5-3) to accomplish that.
Stanford has 11 games left, including seven at home and two this week--against Oregon on Thursday and Oregon State on Saturday in Maples Pavilion. Both games start at 7:30 p.m. (KZSU-90.1 FM).
These are must-win games for the Cardinal women. They have to re-establish themselves among the Pac-10 elite, especially after being rocked by the Bruins and Trojans. While the loss to USC might have been expected, the UCLA defeat certainly was a shock.
Against UCLA, Stanford trailed by 40-30 at halftime while missing all five of its free throws. Rachel Hemmer did finish with 21 points and 12 rebounds and junior teammate Anita Kaplan added 16 points and 10 rebounds, but the Cardinal couldn't stop UCLA senior Natalie Williams, who scored a game-high 24 points and had 16 rebounds.
Likewise on Sunday, Stanford couldn't stop USC senior Lisa Leslie, whom VanDerveer more than once has called "the best player in the nation." The 6-foot-5 Leslie took it to the Cardinal for a career-high 34 points, added 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Stanford held a tenuous 57-51 lead with 11:28 to play, but Leslie keyed a comeback. Her layup gave the Trojans a 61-59 lead, starting a 10-2 run that pushed USC into a 71-61 lead with four minutes to play.
Cardinal freshman Kate Starbird had 18 points, with Kaplan tossing in 16 plus grabbing eight rebounds.
"We're just a team in transition," VanDerveer said. "We're still two months away from where we want to be."
Two nights after scaring UCLA before a sellout crowd in Maples, the Stanford men rebounded by thumping Southern Cal in front of 7,289 fans.
"We talked about UCLA," Montgomery said. "It's really important we got back up for this one."
The victory was the 11th in the past 12 meeting with the Trojans in Maples, and left Stanford with a 9-1 record there this season.
The Cardinal pulled out the inartistic win despite the limited court time by freshman guard Brevin Knight, who was saddled with foul problems early.
Despite losing its spark at the point, Stanford managed with David Harbour coming off the bench and providing 14 key points in 23 minutes. Harbour and his teammates took advantage of 30 fouls on USC by sinking 31 of 45 foul shots. The Trojans, meanwhile, managed just 17 of 26.
"Harbour did a great job," Montgomerey said. "He made some big plays for us, no question."
Stanford now hits the road for big games in the Pacific Northwest, taking on Oregon (2-5 and 6-10) on Thursday (7:05 p.m.) and Oregon State (1-6 and 5-11) on Saturday (1:30 p.m.). Both will be broadcast live (KRFC 610 AM, KZSU).
The Cardinal once again will need solid performances from starters like Brent Williams (24 points against UCLA), Andy Poppink (18 vs. USC), Dion Cross (32 for the weekend), and Knight (13 assists, 10 steals in two games) if it plans on returning home to face Arizona (Feb. 10) and Arizona State (Feb. 12) with a 6-3 conference mark.
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