Jake's Take On Sports » Women’s Basketball

Stanford still unsure of starting lineup

Jake Curtis — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:37:03 +0000

STANFORD WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM STILL UNSURE OF LINEUP JUST DAYS BEFORE OPENER –

Tara VanDerveer and Amy Tucker provided more food for thought than answers in the Cardinal women’s 100-54 victory over Vanguard in their second and final exhvition game Saturday night.

Two true freshmen — forward Taylor Greenfield and guard Amber Orrange — were in the starting lineup for this game, which does not necessarily mean they will be starters when the season begins officially with a key game against No. 24-ranked Texas in Austin.

The only certainty is that the Ogwumike sisters — Nneka and Chiney — will be the starting post players against the Longhorns. The only other player who started both exhibitions was Lindy La Rocque, so it’s a pretty good guess she will be starting against Texas, especially after she hit 5 of 10 three-pointers against Vanguard. She did not commit a turnover in either exhibition game, and the Cardinal need her outside threat.

The need for perimeter scorers is also a reason freshman Bonnie Samuelson may be a bigger factor this season than anticipated. She made 5 of 10 three-pointers against Vanguard, suggesting her 5-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc in the first exhibition against UC San Diego was no fluke. Whether she can do that against quicker, bigger Division I defenders is another question, but VanDerveer may be willing to give her significantly playing time early in the season to find out.

She is unlikely to be a starter, though. It’s not even clear what alignment the Cardinal will use — whether it will use a three-guard set as it used in the first exhibition or a two-guard attack as it started in the second.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Orrange will become a starter at some point this season, and may be the Cardinal’s starting point guard against Texas. She has not shot well, going 2-for-8 in the two exhibitions, including 0-for-4 Saturday, but more significant is that she had six assists without a turnover on Saturday, giving her 13 assists with just two turnovers in the two exhibitions. Again, doing it against the likes of UC San Diego and Vanguard is a lot different from dishing off against the likes of Texas, but she provides the kind of quick, athletic playmaker the Cardinal has not had in recent years. She could be a major boost for the Ogwumikes, who would benefit from someobdy who can drive and dish.

Junior Joslyn Tinkle did not started either exhibition, but got as much playing time as anyone, so she figures to play a lot, although whether it is as a starter or coming off the bench is unclear. She can play both a small forward or post position, so VanDerveer may like the flexibility she provides off the bench.

Toni Kokenis did not play on Saturday, and she is likely to be a starter, so it’s hard to say who will be in the starting lineup. Last season, VanDerveer used a variety of starting lineups in the exhibitions, and continued to tinker with it for the first month of the season before she settled on La Rocque as the fifth starter. That was when only one starting spot was in question. Now it’s three, and you may see several combinations early in the season.

Stanford women may have freshman point guard

Jake Curtis — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:34:32 +0000

STANFORD WOMEN MAY HAVE FRESHMAN POINT GUARD THIS SEASON –

It’s been awhile since Tara VanDerveer faced so many personnel issues heading into the season, and the biggest issue is point guard, a position that might be occupied by a true freshman.

The Cardinal women’s basketball team has been practicing since Oct. 4, the second season women have had the extra preseason practice time since the NCAA moved the official starting date for women’s basketball up 11 days.

And VanDerveer will need the extra time to sort out the backcourt situation, because freshmen are going to be very much involved in the decisions she makes.

Stanford is set at only two positions — the two post spots occupied by the Ogwumike sisters, Nneka and Chiney. Chiney conceivably could move to a wing spot, and Sarah Boothe could become a starter in the post, but Chiney probably is too valuable as as a rebounder and post defender to move her outside on any kind of regular basis.

That means Joslyn Tinkle probably will be the starting small forward, with fellow junior Mikaela Ruef probably getting a serious look at that position after seeing increased playing time late last season.

The focus, though, will be on the two guard spots, particuarly the point-guard position. VanDerveer had Jeanette Pohlen running the point since the middle of the 2008-2009 season, and you don’t lose a player who was the Pac-10 player of the year and a first-round WNBA draft pick without feeling the effects — especially at the most importat position on the floor.

So VanDerveer and assistant Amy Tucker are looking at three possible replacements for Pohlen at the point. One is sophomore Toni Kokenis, who started two games at the point early last season when Pohlen was moved to the off-guard spot. But that experiment ended well before conference play started, and it remains to be seen whether VanDerveer will try Kokenis at the point again, or put her at the off-guard spot, where she can play with a little more abandon and less responsibility, which may suit her style and temperament better.

That would leave the point guard spot to one of two highly touted 5-foot-7 freshmen — Amber Orrange and Jasmine Camp. Although they are young and experienced, one or both could provide something Stanford has not had in a long time — a quick pure point guard who can break down a defense.

For years, that has been the one weakness of VanDerveer’s teams. They simply did not have a perimeter player who could beat defenders one-on-one to create her own shot. Candice Wiggins could do it, but she was never a true point guard. Jamila Wideman was closer, although she was more of a playmaker than a player who focused on beating her defender to get to the basket .

With Camp, who is from Ellenwood, Ga., and Orrange, who is from Houston, VanDerveer finally may have someone who can do that. Their speed and playmaking at the point is a new toy for VanDerveer, one she has needed for years. But since they are freshmen, it’s difficult to know yet whether they can do it at the Pac-12 — yes, the Pac-12 now — level.

VanDerveer might prefer that one of the two freshmen earn the critical point guard spot, so Kokenis could play the off-guard position, because Lindy La Rocque, despite all her contributions as a starter last season, may not fit as well with this year’s squad. Last season, Stanford had four potential All-Americans surrounding La Rocque in Pohlen, Kayla Pedersen and the Ogwumike sisters. So Stanford needed only a complementary player at that guard spot — someone willing to pass the ball into the post, hustle on defense, make open three-pointers and minimize mistakes.

The Cardinal may need more out of that position this season, which is why Kokenis seems like the best bet to handle that spot, althoug Ruef could play there too in certain situations.

Freshmen Taylor Greenfield and Alex Green also could figure at the off-guard spot.

It all depends on what happens at point guard. When VanDerver settles on a starter at that position, a lot of other things can fall into place. It may take several games before that issue is settled, however. In fact, it might take much of the season. And the lineup VanDerveer uses to start the season may not resemble the lineup she uses in March.

You may recall that Pohlen was recruited as a wing player, and she began he Cardinal career as a power forward. It was not until the injury to JJ Hones early in the 2008-2009 season forced VanDerveer to juggle things around that she put Pohlen at the point.

In many ways, Pohlen was never a true point guard, playing out of position the entire time despite turning out to be the Cardinal’s best play for the first three-quarters of last season. Pohlen was never a player who could break a defender down off the dribble to create opportunities for hereself and teammates. Stanford may have that now and for the next several years.

We’ll see

Stanford women benefited from elimination of Baylor and Griner

Jake Curtis — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:34:42 +0000

ELIMINATION OF BAYLOR AND GRINER BENEFITS STANFORD WOMEN –

Obviously, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer is not going to admit that Texas A&M presents a better matchup for her team than Baylor would have, but it would seem the Cardinal are better off not having to face 6-8 Brittney Griner in Sunday’s national semifinals in Indianapolis.

VanDerveer, whose team beat Gonzaga on Monday to reach the Final Four, refused to say she was expecting Baylor to beat Texas A&M on Tuesday or that the Aggies present fewer problems. She did say the preparation will be different, however.

“Texas A&M gives you a more traditional look, not having someone 6-8 in there,” VanDerveer said.

Brittney Griner no longer looms over Stanford's Final Four fortunes

A semifinal matchup involving Baylor and Stanford would have been intriguing with Stanford’s 6-3 Nneka Ogwumike, who was named an Associated Press second-team All-American for the second straight season, trying to use her athletic post moves against Griner, a two-time first-team All-American and perhaps the most significant force in women’s college basketball. Could Ogwumike and her sister Chiney have dominated play in the paint the way they have throughout the postseason with Baylor’s shot-blocking machine lurking? And could the Cardinal have defending Griner without getting key players in foul trouble?

It became a moot point when A&M (31-5) surprised Baylor on Tuesday after losing the three previous meetins to the Bears this season.

The Aggies have a first-team All-American of their own in center Danielle Adams, a powerful, yet versatile, 6-4 player who present problems that a very different from Griner. But Adams is not a player who will affect the Cardinal’s offensive and game plan as much as Griner would have.

“Texas A&M gives you a more traditional look, not having someone 6-8 in there,” VanDerveer said.

Facing Griner is particularly troublesome for team’s not used to facing her, and Stanford has never faced her. That was less of an issue for Texas A&M, which had played against her last season and three times this season before the regional finals on Tuesday.

How Stanford would fare against Griner became a moot point when A&M (31-5) surprised Baylor on Tuesday after losing the three previous meetins to the Bears this season.

VanDerveer, who was named national coach of the year on Monday, said she doesn’t know whether her players were surprised that Baylor lost, “but as far as our coaches go, it was no surprise,” she said.

VanDerveer said she watched both teams with equal interest on Tuesday, and at the same time she was watching that game, she was watching video tapes of both teams’ previous NCAA Tournament games. VanDerveer is a film junkie and says she has already seen film on all of Texas A&M’s games, so she is aware of the challenge that will be presented in Sunday’s game, which is scheduled to begin at 4 p,m., on Sunday and will be televised by ESPN. The winner of that game will play in the title game on Tuesday against the winner of Sunday’s late game between No. 1 Connecticut and Notre Dame, a team UConn has beaten three times this season.

This is the fourth year in a row Stanford has been to the Final Four, which means all the key players except freshmen Toni Kokenis and Chiney Ogwumike have done this before. It may give the Cardinal an experience advantage amid the hoopla of the Final Four.

“I wish they just gave you points right up on the board for that, but obviously they don,” she said. “I know Gary Blair will impart some of the experience to his players (Blair coached Arkansas when it went to the 1998 Final Four). It may give us a certain amount of calmness, maybe help weather some of the storms we know are coming from Texas A&M.”\

The Aggies’ biggest threat to Stanford is their pressure defense, which VanDerveer said was similar to what Tennessee and Arizona State try to do.

“It’s similar, but (the Aggies) do it better,” she said. “That’s the advantage of having male practice players to get you ready for that.”

VanDerveer has already used males during practice to help prepare her team.

It will put pressure on Stanford senior point guard Jeanette Pohlen, who was named a first-team Associated Press All-American on Tuesday.

Pohlen helps Stanford clobber Gonzaga in NCAA

Jake Curtis — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 04:13:04 +0000

STANFORD WOMEN REACH NCAA FINAL FOUR FOR 4th STRAIGHT YEAR –

The Ogwumike sisters will get most of the credit for Stanford’s 83-60 win over Gonzaga in the women’s NCAA Tournament regional finals in Spokane, Wash., on Monday, and deservedly so, based on the way they dominated the paint.

But the reason the Cardinal (33-2) won in a rout against a hot team that that was virtually playing on its home floor was that Jeanette Pohlen rediscovered her offense. With Pohlen stuggling mightily over the past five games, the Cardinal was still a pretty good team — good enough to win all five. But the Cardinal came close to losing two of those, needing to rally from an 11-point, second-half deficit to beat UCLA in the Pac-10 title game, and holding off North Carolina on Saturday despite being tied with two minutes left.

Indianapolis will be the site of Stanford's national semifinal game on Sunday.

But on Monday, Pohlen played like the Pac-10 player of the year for the first time in nearly a month. She hit two three-pointers in the first seven minutes, when she scored seven points, and the second long-range bomb gave the Cardinal a 20-12 lead. With Pohlen playing at a high level again, the Cardinal simply overwhelmed the Bulldogs from that point to join Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Connecticut and LSU as the only teams to reach the national semifinals four consecutive seasons.

Pohlen had averaged just 7.6 points on 26.1 percent shooting over the past five games, and that included 1-for-9 shooting on Saturday, when she was 0-for-7 on three-pointers. She was hesitating on her shot even when she was wide open.

But she was 6-for-10 on Monday, including 5-for-8 on three-pointers, while aggressively looking for scoring opportunities and scoring 17 points. She did have six turnovers, which was a bit unsightly, but she offset the performance by Gonzaga’s standout point guard Courney Vandersloot. Vandersloot kept the Bulldogs in the game in the first half when she scored 21 of her team’s 38 first-half points as the Cardinal took a nine-point lead into intermission.

But Vandersloot was just 1-for-7 in the second half as Stanford witched to a zone defense, and she had just two second-half points with less than five minutes left, at which point the Cardinal held a 28-point lead. She finished with 25 points, nine assists and one turnover, but the other four Gonzaga player were no match for the Cardinal. Besides Vandersloot, the Bulldogs were 15-for-50 from the field (30 percent).

It ended Gonzaga’s 21-game win streak, and extended Stanford’s winning streak to 27 in a row. And this one was the Cardinal’s best all-around effort since late December, when the Cardinal handled Xavier and Connecticut in a three-day stretch.

But those two games were at home. This one was in front of a packed house at Spokane Arena, which is just a few minutes from the Gonzaga campus and was filled with Bulldog fans.

Freshman Chiney Ogwumike had another moster game on the boards, collecting 15 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, as the Cardinal outrebounded Gonzaga 45-22. Chiney added 18 points, and sister Nneka Ogwumike had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Stanford’s inside players simply pounded Gonzaga to death in the paint.

The Ogwumike sisters are likely to face a bigger challenge in Sunday’s national semifinal game in Indianapolis, because the opponent is likely to be Baylor and 6-8 sophomore Brittney Griner. The Bears still must get past Big 12 foe Texas A&M in its regional final on Tuesday, but Baylor has won all three previous games against A&M this season and will favored to do so again.

The Cardinal has not faced Baylor since Griner joined the team, and it will be interesting to see whether Stanford’s strong frontcourt of the Ogwumikes and Kayla Pedersen can deal with Griner, who scored 40 points on Sunday against Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Stanford is the first No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four this year, as top-seeded Tennessee was upset by No. 2 seed Notre Dame in the Dayton regional on Monday.

Now comes the real challenge for Stanford women — Gonzaga in Spokane

Jake Curtis — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:35:36 +0000

NOW COMES THE REAL CHALLENGE FOR STANFORD WOMEN — GONZAGA IN SPOKANE –

After surviving North Carolina on Saturday, Stanford faces a major challenge — facing a red-hot Gonzaga team and a red-hot Gonzaga point guard on what is essentially Gonzaga’s home court.

Stanford’s ability to make the plays down the stretch enabled the Cardinal to beat North Carolina 72-65 in the third round of the women’s NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash., on Saturday earning the Cardinal a matchup with Gonzaga on Monday.

Spokane Arena is just few minutes from the Gonzaga campus

The Stanford women won their 26th straight game, the longest active winning streak in the country, but this was not easy. The game was tied with 2:18 left, but the Tar Heels (28-9) committed turnovers on the next four possessions, while Stanford (32-2) got big plays from the Ogwumike sisters.The shooting slump of Stanford point guard Jeanette Pohlen has to be a concern for the Cardinal, especially heading into Monday’s game against Gonzaga, which beat Louisville. The winner of Monday’s game advances to the Final Four in Indianapolis,

The marquee matchup will between senior point guards Pohlen and Courtney Vandersloot of Gonzaga. Both are among the 12 finalists for the Wade Trophy national player of the year honor. Vandersloot is averagin 30.7 points in the NCAA Tournament, plus the Bulldogs essentially will be playing on their homecourt. The Spokane Arena is not offically Gonzaga’s home court, but it is just five minutes from campus, and the arena is expected to filled to capacity with Gonzaga fans.

Pohlen, the Pac-10 player of the year, has struggled offensively the past several games, averaging just 7.6 points on 26.1 percent shooting over the past five games. That included 1-for-9 shooting on Monday, when she was 0-for-7 on three-pointers. She finished with six points, with three coming on free throws in the final 16 seconds. Her slump was particularly noticeable when Pohlen was left wide open for a three-pointer. She hesitated before taking the shot and missed.

She will need to snap out of her slump in the matchup against Vandersloot When Gonzaga and Stanford met on the Bulldogs’ home court back on Nov. 21, the teams were tied with 5:29 left before Stanford won by six. Vandersloot had 24 points and 10 assists in that game, and Pohlen had 19 points and two assists.

Vandersloot not only leads the nation in assists (10.1 per game) by a wide margin but on Saturday she set the NCAA record for assists in a season. And she is also averaging 19.6 points.

In the Bulldogs’ 76-69 victory over Louisville on Saturday, Vandersloot had 29 points on 8-for-10 shooting, to go along with seven assists, seven steals and five rebounds, although she did commit seven turnovers, three of which came while Louisville was launching a late comeback.

Gonzaga has beaten No. 6 seed Iowa, No. 3 seed UCLA and Louisville, all in its hometown of Spokane. Wash. Vandersloot had 34 points, seven rebounds and seven assists against Iowa; 29 points, 17 assists an seven rebounds against UCLA, and then had the dominant game against Louisville.

As good as Vandersloot is, she is not the entire team. She is one of three Gonzaga players averaging 16.8 points or more, and the Bulldogs are the highest scoring team in the country.

The Bulldogs took an 11-point lead over Louisville (22-13) at halftime, and they rode the momentum provided by Vandersloot and the partisan Spokane crowd to push the margin to 20 points five minutes into the second half. The Cardinals cut the deficit to three with just over four minutes left as freshman guard Shoni Schimmel, who was 1-for-13 in the first half, made 6 of her first 7 shots of the second half.

But the Bulldogs managed to hang on to advance to final eight.

Stanford freshman Toni Kokenis will be a key factor in trying to counter Vandersloot. Kokenis, who sprained her ankle in Monday’s win over St. John’s, not only played Saturday, but played a lot. She was productive in the first half, but less so in the second. But she may be matched up against Vandersloot a great deal on Monday.

The saviors for Stanford on Monday were the Ogwumike sisters. Nneka Ogwumike scored eight straight points for the Cardinal late in the second half when the Cardinal was struggling offensively. She finished with 19 points.

But the biggest offensive plays were made by freshman sister Chiney Ogwumike, who finished with 16 points and 11 boards. The score was tied 65-65 when Chiney threw in a 10-foot semi-hook shot with two minutes left to put the Cardinal ahead for good.

After Pohlen shot an airball on Stanford’s next possession and North Carolina turned the ball over again after that, Chiney Ogwumike grabbed an offensive rebound. She made the follow shot with 39.7 seconds left, was fouled on the play, hit the free throw and Stanford led by five with 39.7 seconds left.

The final seven-point margin was the closest game in Stanford’s 26-game streak. And now the Cardinal must get by Gonzaga to get to the Final Four for the fourth straight year.

The Cardinal will need to shoot better from long range. It was just 4-for-21 on three-pointers on Saturday, and the Cardinal was outrebounded by North Carolina 41-35. But the Cardinal took care of the ball, committing just seven turnovers.

Stanford got some help off the bench from Kokenis (9 points) and Joslyn Tinkle, who hit two key three-pointers, Kayla Pedersen added 15 points and nine rebounds,

63-0 career home record for Stanford women seniors

Jake Curtis — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:19:23 +0000

STANFORD WOMEN SENIORS FINISH 63-0 AT HOME FOR THEIR CAREERS –

On Nov. 28, 2007, a freshman named Kayla Pedersen was in the starting lineup for Stanford’s first home game of the 2007-2008 season. It was a rather routine victory over San Francisco in which Pedersen hit 8 of 9 shots and sored 18 points. She was then in the starting lineup for every one of the 62 home games since then.

The Cardinal won all 63 of those games, including the final home game her career — Monday’s 75-49 victory over St. John’s (see game story below) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before a crowd of 5,904 at Maples Pavilion.

Only one person on the Stanford roster — redshirt senior Melanie Murphy — has ever experienced a loss at Maples Pavilion.

“It’s just weird to think we never walked off with a loss,” senior Jeanette Pohlen said. “I don;t even know what it would feel like. I know it would be awful.”

Pohlen, who did not become a starter until her sophomore season, and Pedersen and seniors Ashley Cimino and Hannah Donaghe (who sat out her final year with a knee injury) finished off a rare accomplishment by winning every single home game in their college careers. Only the Tennessee senior class that featured Chamique Holdclaw ever won every home game in their college careers, although Maya Moore and Connecticut’s other seniors will achieve it too if UConn wins its second-round NCAA Tournament game on Tuesday.

Certainly, Stanford’s overall dominace is a big reason for the Cardinal dominance at home, but Tara VanDerveer reminded people that Stanford had lost three home games the previous season — 2006-2007 — and that included a 68-61 loss to No. 10 seed Florida State in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal has not lost a home game since.

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Freshman Toni Kokenis left the game late in the first half with a sprinaed ankle, and her status for Saturday’s third-round game against North Carolina is uncertain.

“She was moving pretty well after the game,” VanDerveer said. “Hepefully, she’ll be ready, becasue we’ll need her.”

———–

Stanford’s third-round game will be in Spokane, Wash., site of one of the Cardinal’s biggest wins. It was there that Stanford upset Maryland 98-87 in the regional finals in 2008 to get back to the Final Four for the first time in 11 years. The Cardinal has been to the Final Four every year since and hopes to make it four in row this season.

Pedersen, then a freshman, played a major role in that game, collecting 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists while playing all 40 minutes. She had 12 points and 16 rebounds two days earlier in the regional semifinal win over Pittsbugh at the same venue.

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VanDerveer admitted Monday that Nneka Ogwumike is one of the best players she’s ever had at Stanford, and her 22-point performance on Monday demonstrated why. She missed her first four shots, but then hit 10 of remaining 12 shots while dominating things inside.

“You could tell she was in a zone,” Pohlen said. “When she post up like that we have to get her the ball.”

Ogwumike scored nine points in a stretch of less than five minutes to take Stanford from an eight-point deficit to a four-point lead.

“Golly, she did everything,” St. John’s coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “We couldn’t stop her. We had no answer for her.”

————–

The one concern for Stanford may be Jeanette Pohlen, who continues to struggle offensively. She was 3-for-13 from the field on Monday and scored eight points. Over her past four games, she’s averaging 8.0 points while shooting 11-for-37, which is 29.7 percent.

VanDerveer tries to put a positive spin on it.

“I think it bodes well, because maybe she can break out in one of these games,” VanDerveer said.

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North Carolina, Stanford’s third-round opponent, started the season 14-0 and was ranked No. 7 in the country at one point. It lost to Connecticut at home by 26 points, and it lost its final four regular-season games before getting to the finals of the ACC tournament and losing to Duke.

The Tar Heels’ leading scorer is 5-foot-8 guard Italee Lucas, who is averaging 16 points and had 22 in their second-round win over Kentucky Monday.

North Carolin ranks fifth in the nation in field-goal percentage defense, and, like Stanford, is an exceelent rebounding team. The Tar Heels are not a very good three-point shooting team, however.

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ST. JOHN’S GAME StORY

Stanford seniors Jeanette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen played their final game at Maples Pavilion on Monday, and the Cardinal’s 75-49 victory over St. John’s in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament guranteed that they would finish their careers without ever having lost a home game. Those two finished 63-0 in home games for their four-year careers.

“That’s a phenomenal accomplishment,” St. John’s coach Kim Barnes Arixco said.

The Cardinal (31-2) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth year in a row. But had it not been for the dominant play of junior Nneka Ogwumike the Cardinal would have had a lot more trouble with the Red Storm. Ogwumike finished with 22 points in 31 minutes and controlled the middle portion of the game with her array of post moves to put the Cardinal in command.”Golly, she did everything,” Barnes Arico said. “We couldn’t stop her. We had no answer for her.”

The Cardinal’s next game will be on Saturday in Spokane, Wash., against North Carolina (28-8), which knocked off Kentucky 86-74 in its second-round game. The Tar Heels are not a great shooting team, but they play great defense. They allow opponents to shoot just 33.3 percent from the field, fourth best in the country, and they are fourth in the nation in blocked shots as well.

That game on Saturday will be at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Wash. It’s not Gonzaga’s homecourt, but the Bulldogs will certainly enjoy the home-crowd backing. The Bulldogs will provide a major challenge in the fourth round for the Cardinal if Stanford gets by North Carolina and if Gonzaga beats the winner of Tuesday’s game between No. 2 Xavier and Louisville. No. 11 seed Gonzaga did play on its homecourt on Monday, when it upset No. 3 seed and Pac-10 runnerup UCLA in its second-round game 89-75. Gonzaga guard Courtney Vandersloot had 29 points, 17 assists, seven rebounds and five steals. She also threw in eight turnovers.

It was a rather unfair fate for the Bruins, who had a much higher seed but had to play on the homecourt of its opponent. The Bulldogs are 14-1 at home this season, their only loss being a six-point defeat to Stanford early in the season.

The site of the third-round and fourth-round games Saturday and Monday will be a few miles from the Gonzaga campus at a different arena.

Back at Stanford on Monday, the older Ogwumike missed her first four shots, but then owned the paint, scoring on a variety of turnaround jumpers and inside moves. She made 8 of her next 9 shots to pull Stanford out of an early eight-point hole and finished with 22 points on 10-for-16 shooting despite sitting out nearly half of the second half.

However, it may have been a costly win, because freshman guard Toni Kokenis, who has been playing her best basketball lately, left the game with 2:20 left in the first half after spraining her ankle in a scrambl

There was no immediate prognosis for Kokenis, but her injury appeared to be a high ankle sprain, which typically takes a long time to heal. It’s very possible she will miss the Cardinal’s third-round game on Saturday,

Kokenis had scored in double figures in five the previous seven games coming off the bench, and she provides speed and aggressiveness in the backcourt the Cardinal lacks without her.

It probably means sophomore Mikaela Ruef is now the first guard off the bench, even though she more of a small forward. Ruef played a lot on Monday, and played pretty well. It was her three-pointer with 5:33 left in the first half that put the Cardinal ahead for good.

She finished with five points and four assists. Chiney Ogwumike had 13 points and 12 rebounds, Pedersen had 14 points, eight rebounds and five asssits, and Pohlen eight points, four assists and one turnover, although she was just 3-for-13 from the field, including 2-for-7 from three-point range.

Unlike Stanford, some of the other tournament favorites had to struggle to get into the round of 16.

Tennessee, a No. 1 seed, led No. 8 seed Marquette by just a point with 6:17 left on the Vols’ home court before Tenessee gained control for a 79-70 victory on Monday.

No. 2 seed Duke had an even tougher time with No. 10 seed Marist, which led the Blue Devils by 11 points with 15 minutes left before Duke caught the Red Foxes and won 71-66 in its second-round game Monday.

And No. 9 seed St. John’s (22-11) provided more problems than the score suggests. Believe it or not, the Red Storn trailed by just five points two minutes into the second half after scoring the first three points after intermission. But Stanford outscored St. John’s 22-0 to finish off a 31-4 run over the next 10 minutes to bury the Red Storn and pick up its 24th straight win.

“A little combination of everything The first half was a different story for a while. St. John’s jumped out to a 22-14 lead with 9:43 left in the first half. At that point, Nneka Ogwumike took over the game. She scored nine points in a span of 4 minutes and 34 seconds. By the time she completed a three-point play with 4:49 left, the Cardinal had four-point lead.

Cal women’s disappointing season ends — 6 high school All-Americans on next year’s team

Jake Curtis — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:22:22 +0000

CAL WOMEN LOSE TO COLORADO IN WNIT — SIX HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS ON NEXT YEAR’S BEARS TEAM –

The Cal women’s basketball team’s season ended with a thud on Monday – an 81-65 road loss to Colorado in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament that was not as close as the score suggests.

So you have to wonder about the state of the Golden Bears, who seemed to have established a top-flight Pac-10 program a few years ago, but have now started to tumble.

This team finished 18-16 overall and 7-11 in the Pac-10 despite having four McDonald’s high school All-Americans on the team and being picked to finish fourth in the conference. Certainly the loss of sophomore Gennifer Brandon (shin stress fracture) and freshman Avigiel Cohen (knee), both for the season, hurt, but both should be back next season.

And with the addition Rashanda Gray next season, the Golden Bears will have six McDonald’s All-Americans on the active roster in 2011-2012. That’s more than Stanford will have, and more than almost any team in the country.

And that does not include Tierra Rogers, a 2009 McDonald’s All-American whose basketball career ended when a heart ailment was discovered shortly before her freshman season at Cal began.

Cal will return its top seven scorers next season and add another highly touted freshman class.

This assumes, of course, that all those current players will return to Cal, and that may be presumptive given the number of players who have transferred out of Cal the past few seasons. One of the many transfers – Casey Morris – was a starting guard for the Texas Tech team that beat Baylor this year and played in the NCAA Tournament. She was just a sophomore this season. Two other former Bears, Angelei Aguirre and Kelsey Adrian, were both starters on the UC Santa Barbara team that tied for the Big West regular-season title and played in the WNIT.

And you had to wonder what Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour was thinking as she listened to coach Joanne Boyle following the Pac-10 tournament loss to Stanford, when Boyle basically threw her players under the bus.

Boyle complained that her players don’t play hard enough, placing much of the blame for the up-and-down season on them.

“ I think that’s my biggest frustration is just wanting this team to die for what they’ve been given and to earn it and work for it and to appreciate it,” Boyle said then. “That is the biggest frustration for a coach, and probably any coach feels that way that kind of goes on a roller coaster.”

“When it comes easy, we’re good. When it doesn’t come easy, that’s when we have to find that next whatever it is – the “it” factor that teams have. We need to find the “it” factor when it gets tough.”

Barbour was sitting right there listening to it, and that may not be the way an A.D. wants her coaches to talk about their players. The coach has to take responsibility.

The Bears had some outstanding teams in Boyle’s second, third and fourth seasons at Cal (2007 through 2009), but those were achieved primarily with players recruited by Boyle’s predecessor, Caren Horstmeyer.

Boyle is clearly frustrated, and you may see some changes on the staff, and possibly some personnel changes as well.

And the Bears performance in the finale may have encouraged her to make changes. Although Cal beat Cal Poly in its first-round WNIT game, it was not competitive with Colorado, a team that entered the WNIT with a 15-15 record, including 6-10 in the Big 12, tied for eighth place. Plus the Buffaloes had lost their final two games before the WNIT by a combined margin of 48 points.

But at home against Cal, the Buffaloes took a 13-point lead less than seven minutes into the game and led by 27 at halftime. Cal never threatened in the second half.

Layshia Clarendon had 20 points in each of the two WNIT games, and Talia Caldwell had 17 rebounds against Cal Poly.

The team’s presumed star, DeNesha Stallworth, was 2-for-15 against Cal Poly and had 12 points and three rebounds against Colorado. Boyle has voiced disappointment in her performance at times, and you have to wonder how Stallworth will respond to that.

Next season will tell us a lot about Boyle and the Cal program.

Freshman saves No. 2 Stanford women against No. 7 UCLA

Jake Curtis — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:06:56 +0000

BURST BY FRESHMAN SAVES STANFORD WOMEN IN PAC-10 TITLE GAME –

LOS ANGELES – Although Stanford’s experienced star power is presumed to be its ace in the hole in tight situations, it was a freshman off the bench who saved the Cardinal in the Pac-10 women’s tournament championship game.

Freshman guard Toni Kokenis scored 10 points in a span of two minutes and 20 seconds in the second half, turning the game upside down and enabling the No. 2-ranked Cardinal to overcome an 11-point, second half deficit to pull out a 64-55 victory over No. 7-ranked UCLA at Staples Center on Saturday.

Although it was the Cardinal’s 23^rd straight win, this was the first of those in which the Cardinal was in serious danger of losing. It was also the first one of the 23 decided by single digits. This one could be considered an escape as much as a victory.

“We really had to dig down to see what kind of character we had,” VanDerveer said, “and I think this game will really help us a lot.”

Kokenis’ semi-frantic style was just what the Cardinal (29-2) needed to shake it out of its doldrums after its lowest scoring first half of the season – 21 points.

Stanford still trailed by a point with less than six minutes left when Kokenis hit a 10-footer off a fast break with 5:15 left to give Stanford its first lead since midway in the first half.

She added another fast-break basket to make it a 51-48 Cardinal lead, and she knew it was her day when, with 4:16 left, she somehow made a three-pointer from the corner that bounced around all parts of the rim before dropping through.

“I felt like it was up there forever,” Kokenis said. “I was waiting for it to fall out.”

But it did not fall out, and neither did her next three-point attempt with 2:55 left, which gave the Cardinal a 57-48 lead and control of the game.

“Toni is a big-time player,” VanDerveer said

Kokenis finished with a career-high 17 points, four more than the 13 she scored in the Cardinal victory over UCLA on Feb. 20 when she was also the catalyst of Stanford’s victory.

“The game doesn’t know your age,” UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell said, “and she plays much more experienced than her year.”

The Cardinal had flailed away from long range for much of the game against UCLA’s zone defense, which was willing to give the Cardinal outside shots to prevent the ball from getting inside to the Ogwumike sisters. The strategy of packing in its defense paid off handsomely, and the Cardinal can expect to see similar defenses in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cardinal’s strength is its inside game, but it attempted only seven two-point shots in the first half, making five. Nneka Ogwumike, who scored 32 points in the Cardinal’s semifinal victory over Arizona and did not play in the previous game against UCLA, took just two shots in the first half, and one of those was a 16-footer. She had just two points in at halftime.

Meanwhile, Stanford attempted 16 three-point shots in the first half, making only three, and the Cardinal trailed at halftime by nine points, its biggest halftime deficit since it trailed Connecticut by 13 in the NCAA semifinals two years ago.

Jeanette Pohlen, the Pac-10 player of the year, was 0-for-6 in the first half, all three-pointers, and was scoreless at intermission.

“We probably had the worst first half of the season – maybe the DePaul game was worst, but they were head and head,” VanDerveer said.

Pohlen — who finished with eight points, four assists and five turnovers after scoring five points on Friday — pumped in two three-pointers early in the second half, and Nneka Ogwumike also came alive, scoring 13 of her 15 points in the second half.

But the impetus was the Cardinal defense, which forced UCLA in 11 second-half turnovers, opening up the court for some fast-break opportunities. Kokenis was the one who took advantage of those chances, switching the momentum in Stanford’s favor.

“It all started on defense,” Kokenis said. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

It was the Cardinal’s fifth straight Pac-10 tournament championship, and it heads into the NCAA Tournament on a high note. Presumably, Stanford will be a No. 1 seed and play its first two postseason games at home.

It also knows it showed some backbone by rallying to beat UCLA, which lost only four games this season, three of which were against Stanford.

“You knew they weren’t going to give in,” Caldwell said. “They’re not considered one of the best programs in the history of the game for nothing.”

Cal women hope for postseason berth after perplexing season

Jake Curtis — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 03:27:34 +0000

CAL WOMEN END PERPLEXING SEASON WITH SEMIFINAL LOSS, POSTSEASON STILL POSSIBLE –

LOS ANGELES — Cal’s 63-50 loss to UCLA in the Pac-10 semifinal on Friday at the Staples Center – a game that was not as close as the score suggested – provided a confounding end to a perplexing season for the Golden Bears women’s basketball team.

The Golden Bears (17-15) and Joanne Boyle have brought in some talented players. As measured by the recruiting services, their freshman and sophomore classes were both were ranked among the best in the country.

Joanne Boyle

And there were moments this season when the Bears performed pretty well. But not often enough.

The Bears had excellent teams in Boyle’s first four seasons, primarily with players recruited by her predecessor Caren Horstmeyer. The Bears were 15-3 in the Pac-10 in both 2008 and 2009. They dropped to 11-7 in the conference last season and slipped to 7-11 this season, losing seven of their final eight regular-season games.

They showed some life by winning two Pac-10 tournament games, but then lost decisively to UCLA, which, admittedly, is one of the best teams in the country – ranked No. 7 in the nation and losers of three games all season, two of which were to Stanford.

But the Bears did not make the game competitive, and Boyle bemoaned the fact that this year’s team seldom never showed the energy and passion needed to compete on consistent basis.

“For us, I thought we had a really good two games coming in,” Boyle said after Friday’s loss. “Today, I was just disappointed with our effort, and just trying to get our team to compete. It kind of tells the story of our season, how we’ll compete and then we just shut down.”

Sophomore guard Layshia Clarendon, who had 16 points in the first conference tournament game and 22 in the second, was limited to two points on 0-for-6 shooting on Friday. Sophomore forward DeNesha Stallworth, the team’s top scorer, went 3-for-9 and scored nine points.

Having talented players but being unable to get them to play hard for an entire game is what has bothered Boyle the most.

“It’s my biggest frustration,” she said. “You know, we have some youth. But the youth we have, other than the freshmen, they’ve played a lot of minutes.

“You’ve got to walk into practice every day and compete. You’ve got to have a passion for your sport. You’ve got to value the fact that you’ve been given an opportunity. We’re not always on the same page with that. I think that’s my biggest frustration is just wanting this team to die for what they’ve been given and to earn it and work for it and to appreciate it. That is the biggest frustration for a coach, and probably any coach feels that way that kind of goes on a roller coaster.”

Freshman Afure Jemerigbe had 17 points, but she was about the only Cal player who was productive on Friday.

Cal got behind 11-1 in the opening minutes and never threatened the Bruins.

Cal trailed by 23 points four minutes into the second half and by 19 with four minutes remaining.

“It was just kind of like we got punched in the head a little bit and just deflated,” Boyle said. “We didn’t respond to it. When it comes easy, we’re good. When it doesn’t come easy, that’s when we have to find that next whatever it is – the “it” factor that teams have. We need to find the “it” factor when it gets tough.”

The Bears have another highly rated freshman class coming in next season, and it remains to be seen whether they can infuse some energy into the team.

It also will be interesting to see how Boyle deals with the players she believes lacked the effort necessary to win in the Pac-10. A number of players have transferred from Cal in the past few years.

Ogwumike sisters lead Stanford to Pac-10 finals

Jake Curtis — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:53:10 +0000

STANFORD’S OGWUMIKE SISTERS DOMINATE ARIZONA IN PAC-10 SEMIFINALS –

LOS ANGELES — Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer went skiing in Tahoe over the weekend, which may indicate the level of concern she had for the Pac-10 tournament.

And Friday’s 100-71 Stanford victory over Arizona in the Pac-10 tournament semifinals at Staples Center substantiated VanDerveer’s confidence that her team would be ready when things got serious again after its eight-day layoff.

Older sister Nneka is on the right

Stanford (28-2) set the Pac-10 tournament record for points in a game and now plays the UCLA-Cal winner in Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. conference championship game.

The Stanford subset known as Team Ogwumike dominated the game. The two sisters. outscored the Arizona team by 12 points in the first half, as the Cardinal scored on its first six possessions of the game and pretty much decided things before the contest was four minutes old.

JuniorNneka Ogwumike, last year’s Pac-10 player of the year, had 21 first-half points and sister Chiney added 15, and their 36 points – on a combined 17-for-23 shooting – easily outdistanced the 24 points Arizona put on the board in the first 20 minutes. The sisters from Cypress, Texas, also combined for 19 first-half rebounds, three more than the entire Arizona team.

“They have the potential to be two of the best players in the world at their position, not just this country,” Arizona coach Niya Butts said.

The Ogwumikes wound up with a combined 53 points and 23 rebounds as Stanford beat Arizona for the 20th straight time.

“When she scores it’s like I score, and when she rebounds it’s like I rebound,” Nneka Ogwumike said. “We have an invisible extension between us.”

Nneka Ogwumike finished nished with 32 points, six shy of her carrer high but eight more than her previous season high, and added 10 rebounds. She started fast, scoring seven of Stanford first 11 points.

“I came out with a more aggressive mentality,” she said. “They call be the analyzer, and sometimes you can think too much and you just have to come out and play.”

Chiney Ogwumike, the Pac-10 freshman of the year, finished with 21 points, matching her season high, along with 13 rebounds.

“I’m really proud how much Chiney has improved,” VanDerveer said. “She’s a worker and a defender.”

The only downside for the Ogwuimikes came early in the second half when freshman Chiney caught an elbow to the mouth. She chipped a tooth, but returned to game. She lamented she was not wearing a mouthpiece.

“I would advocate that everyone wear one, and I will now,” said Chiney, last year’s national high school player of the year.

The win over Arizona was Stanford 56^th in a row against Pac-10 opposition, and the Cardinal has won 22 in row this season, none closer than 12 points.

Stanford dominated an Arizona (21-11) that is still hoping to get an NCAA Tournament berth, and the Cardinal did it without getting much from Pac-10 player of the year Jeanette Pohlen. Pohlen missed her only two shots in the first half and had no points, no assists and one rebound in the first 20 minutes. She finished with just five points.

When a team can thoroughly dominate an opponent when its best player contributes nothing, it suggests the presence of little depth.

Arizona did not get anything from its player in the first half either. Ify Ibekwe, the conference’s leading scorer and rebounder, had no points and no rebounds at halftime after playing just five minutes because she had two personal fouls.. She finished with nine points and one rebound.

The Wildcats made just 4 of their first 20 shots and were out of the game when an eight-point Stanford run put the Cardinal head 35-18 with four minutes left in the first half.

Melanie Murphy had played more than five minutes in a game only once in the previous eight games, but she played 10 minutes in the first half Friday, when the outcome was still in doubt, and played 20 minutes total, a season high. She hit a three-pointer late in the game for her only points, but added six assists with no turnovers.

Stanford is expected to get a No. 1 seed in its NCAA regional whether it wins Saturday or not. The Cardinal is expected to play its first two NCAA Tournament games at Stanford.