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Palo Alto Online

Stanford teams moving ahead despite key personnel losses

by Rick Eymer

The basketball season is still in its infancy but both the Stanford men's and women's basketball teams learned a lot about themselves the past two weeks.

The men lost All-Americans Casey Jacobsen and Curtis Borchardt to the NBA while the women lost All-American Nicole Powell to a bulging disc.

Guess what? Both teams found out they're pretty good in spite of their losses. The Stanford men reached the championship game of the Preseason NIT, beating a pair of ranked opponents to get there, before losing to North Carolina at Madison Square Garden.

The Stanford women won its own Invitational and had to beat the second-ranked team in the nation to do so.

Both teams get to enjoy their remarkable starts for a couple of weeks as they take time off to prepare for, then take, final exams.

Kansas State coach Deb Patterson could only shake her head when asked how good Stanford might be when Powell returns to the lineup, a possibility when the Cardinal (4-0) visit Pacific on Dec. 13.

"When Powell comes back I think this Stanford team becomes one of the teams most people in America would pick to be in Atlanta (site of this year's Final Four)," she said. "They maximize the talent they have and play to their strengths. The balance they bring is very impressive."

That was after seventh-ranked Stanford beat the No. 2 Wildcats, 63-57, in the championship game of the Stanford Invitational.

Kelley Suminski, who scored a season-high 18 points against Kansas State, was named co-tournament MVP along with Kansas State's Nicole Ohlde.

Stanford opened the tournament with a 95-39 victory over Princeton as Azella Perryman, also an all-tournament selection, set career highs with 17 points and 18 rebounds. Katie Denny, in her first game of the season after recovering from a broken hand, also set a career high with 18 points.

Pinewood grad Sebnem Kimyacioglu was also named to the all-tournament team after scoring 14 points against the Wildcats. Susan King also scored 14 points.

Suminski said Stanford played with a lot of confidence even without Powell.

"We might have been the underdogs but we were ready for them," said Suminski. "We were confident going into that game."

Stanford set a school record for 3-pointers attempted with 37 - making 12 of them - against the Wildcats. The Cardinal tried 34 against Washington two years ago.

"Our preparation helped us," Kimyacioglu said. "Knowing what they were going to run helped our confidence. We took away some of their weapons."

Stanford extended its home winning streak to 15 games and beat its highest ranked opponent since upsetting then-No. 1 Purdue on Nov. 22, 1998. Coach Tara VanDerveer recorded her 400th win at Stanford.

"I was proud of how our team stepped up," said VanDerveer. "Kansas State was a huge challenge and we dug in."

Freshman Krista Rappahahn sank four free throws in the final 43 seconds to clinch the victory.
Men's basketball

Stanford (4-1) lost to North Carolina, 74-57, on Friday but just getting to New York, then beating then-No. 7 Florida in the semifinals, 69-65, had to be a confidence booster for a team trying to find its own identity now that a couple of role models have left for greener pastures.

Josh Childress and Julius Barnes each had 17 points for Stanford, which also beat then-11th ranked Xavier in the second round of the tournament.

"North Carolina is a very, very good basketball team. They were really ready to play and took us out of our stuff," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "Their speed, their quickness and athleticism really hurt us."

The Cardinal start a four-game homestand on Dec. 14 against St. Mary's at 7 p.m. That will be followed by the Stanford Invitational on Dec. 16 and 17 and UC Irvine in the 19th.

Stanford will play five games within eight days as it also goes to the Las Vegas Shootout against the Running Rebels on the 21st.

The Tar Heels went 5:20 without a field goal as the Cardinal pulled to 63-51, but that was as close as Stanford would get.

"We probably should have gotten out of the zone quicker. They obviously solved that," Montgomery said. "But you know, we didn't perform very well. We battled back when we got down, but we didn't do anything very well."

The Tar Heels made five of their first 10 3-point attempts in taking a 37-17 lead with 5:24 to play in the first half.

As easily as the baskets were coming in the first 141/2 minutes for North Carolina, there weren't any to be made over the rest of the half. Stanford was able to get to 39-31 with 14 seconds left in the half as the Tar Heels missed their last seven shots and turned the ball over three times.

Stanford, which committed eight turnovers in falling behind by 20, starting taking better care of the ball and Barnes got hot, scoring nine of the Cardinal's last 12 points of the half.

Matt Lottich fueled Stanford's comeback with a pair of 3-point baskets in the Cardinal victory over Florida.

The Gators were up 53-45, their largest lead, when Lottich nailed a 3-pointer.

Then Rob Little, Barnes and Childress whittled away at the Gators. Stanford led 62-59 before Florida nosed back in front.

Lottich responded with another 3-pointer and Little's inside basket with 18 seconds left gave Stanford the lead for good.

Justin Davis hit a pair of foul shots to seal the victory.

Little led Stanford with 18 points, while Davis had 14 and 10 rebounds and Lottich added 13 points.