November 30, 2007

Card speed past USF

The Bootleg’s Women’s Hoops Columnist Sue Bair reports in on the Cardinal women's impressive 96-61 home victory over USF on Wednesday night. Superstars Candice Wiggins and Jayne Appel had a rare opportunity to play light minutes as the rest of the squad made light work of the height-disadvantaged Dons. Stanford can now prepare for Sunday's anticipated matchup vs. a fairly dangerous UC Davis team. (More ... )
Here are the AP game recap, photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics.

Cardinal set to take on Aggies

Wyndam Makowsky, Stanford Daily, gives us a preview of the Cardinal vs UC Davis game to be played on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Aggies are off to a 5-0 start in their first year as a Division I team, but the Cardinal may be the toughest opponent they will face all year.

The Cardinal is coming off a convincing 96-61 win over San Francisco on Wednesday, in which it was able to overpower the Dons with a combination of tenacious defense, offensive firepower and superior strength and speed.

UC-Davis has a formidable core group of players to compete with. Senior forward and starter Heather Bates, along with sophomore guard Anna Harp, was all-tournament in the Waikiki Classic. Bates led the Aggies in both scoring and rebounding last year.

Junior forward Haylee Donaghe — the older sister of Cardinal freshman guard Hannah Donaghe — and senior forward Jessica Campbell, who tallied the 1,000th point of her career against Portland State, are both scoring in double figures. Haylee Donaghe is also a defensive force: she and junior guard Kirsten Commins — both starters — lead the team with 13 steals each.

(More ...)

Here is the Aggies' roster

November 29, 2007

Big game for the freshmen

Our freshmen had a great game against USF:
  • Kayla had another of the strong performances we've come to expect. She was the top scorer with 18 points and had 4 rebounds, an assist, 2 blocks and a steal.
  • Jeanette played the most minutes (25) and came the closest to a double-double. she scored 13 points and had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, a block and 2 steals.
  • Hannah, in her college debut, scored 11 points and had 2 rebounds, an assist, and a block.
Stanford Daily writer Wyndam Makowsky reported:
But the star of the night — and certainly the fan favorite — was freshman guard Hannah Donaghe, who, in her first action of her Cardinal career, scored 11 points off the bench.

“It’s exciting to see,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “She’s a very good athlete, and she knocks her shot down.”

Cardinal freshmen contributed 32 points in total on the night.

“Not bad,” according to VanDerveer.

(More ...)
San Francisco Chronicle writer Michelle Smith reported:
It was a big night for the Cardinal freshman class, the trio of Kayla Pedersen, Jeanette Pohlen and Hannah Donaghe - making her season debut - combining for 42 points. Pedersen led the Cardinal with 18 points.

VanDerveer simply smiled when the topic of the freshmen arose.

"That's not bad," the coach said.

(More ...)
Here is the box score

November 28, 2007

Next up: USF

By: Haley Murphy, Stanford Daily

The No. 5 women’s basketball team looks for its third straight win tonight when it takes on the University of San Francisco tonight at 7 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.

Home from the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Cardinal hopes to extend its win streak to three in tonight’s game against San Francisco at Maples Pavilion.

After falling to No. 2 Connecticut last week, the Cardinal bounced back with wins against Old Dominion and Temple. However, coach Tara VanDerveer thinks that last week’s loss to the Huskies might be beneficial to the team tonight.

“The best thing honestly might be our loss to Connecticut,” VanDerveer said. “That might be the game that we learned the most from.”

However, the Dons (3-3) are coming off a learning experience of their own. Villanova defeated USF 73-70 in overtime on Nov. 24, and VanDerveer expects the San Francisco squad to arrive fired up as a result.

“Every game you play, whether you win or lose, impacts your next game in some way,” she said. “[USF’s loss] will be positive for them because of confidence, [since] they were so close against Villanova. But I also think...we’re a big team on their schedule, and we’re a good rival for them, so they’ll come in very excited and I think they’ll do very well.”

(More ... )

November 26, 2007

Candice wills a win over Temple

Here's the AP report of the Stanford/Temple game:
With a 17-point halftime lead over No. 4 Stanford, Temple coach Dawn Staley warned her team about Cardinal guard Candice Wiggins leading a big rally.

Then it happened.

Wiggins scored 22 points to lead Stanford (5-1) to a 63-54 victory at the Paradise Jam on Sunday night.

"I told them exactly what was going to happen in the second half, exactly," Staley said. "I told them what Candice Wiggins was going to do in the second half. She's built for these types of games. She came out and willed her team to win." (More ...)
Here's the box score.

November 25, 2007

Kayla leads Stanford to win over ODU

Here's the AP report of the Stanford/ODU game:

In a game of jump shots, Old Dominion held an edge against No. 4 Stanford. Then Kayla Pedersen started taking it directly to the hoop.

Pedersen had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help Stanford (4-1) hold off the Lady Monarchs 69-61 on Saturday night at the Paradise Jam.

"In the first half I was settling for jumpers. In the second half I just took it to them and got fouled," said Pedersen, who scored 15 of her points in the second half and went 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.

(More ...)

Here's the box score.

November 23, 2007

UConn passes the test

The story of the game from GoStanford:
Stanford gambled against Connecticut, and the second-ranked Huskies made them pay.

Kalana Greene, left wide open on many plays, scored 18 points to help the Huskies defeat No. 4 Stanford 66-54 on Thursday night at the Paradise Jam. Freshman standout Maya Moore led Connecticut with 19 points.

"We basically gambled off of some of their players, hoping some of their players would not make shots and they made them," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. "They ran on us and got too many easy baskets." (More ...)
The story from the Connecticut Post
The UConn women's basketball team had waited more than a week to receive its first test of the season. The wait left it yearning to discover exactly where it stood and to prove to the nation that it is every bit as talented as its national ranking indicates.

What the second-ranked Huskies proved Thursday against No. 4 Stanford at the Paradise Jam is that they are worthy of being considered a national championship contender. Led by game-highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds from freshman Maya Moore and 18 points and seven rebounds from junior Kalana Greene, UConn seized a 66-54 victory before a partisan UConn crowd of 2,192 at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center. (More ...)
The box score

November 22, 2007

Stanford is first real test for UConn

From the Hartford Courant:
Playing Stony Brook and Holy Cross certainly did wonders for the cardiovascular systems of the UConn women's basketball players.

But now things start to get interesting.

After three days enjoying the pleasures of Thanksgiving week in the Caribbean, the Huskies get their season started in earnest tonight against No. 4 Stanford at the Paradise Jam Tournament.(More ...)
And from the Connecticut Post:
The winds of change have been gusting about the Stanford women's basketball program since last season's bitter conclusion. Senior All-American Candice Wiggins knew changes needed to be made if the fourth-ranked Cardinal were going to assemble the championship-caliber season they have been seeking for more than a decade.(More ...)

November 19, 2007

Watching the Paradise Jam



Here is information you'll need to see the Paradise Jam games next weekend.

Time Zones

The Virgin Islands are on Atlantic Standard Time, which is Eastern Standard Time plus one hour, so Pacific Standard Time plus four hours.

Brackets and Schedule

The teams playing in the St. Thomas Division are:
  • Reef Division
    • Duke
    • Purdue
    • Temple
  • Island Division
    • Connecticut
    • Old Dominion
    • Stanford
The three teams in each subdivision play each other on Thanksgiving and the following Friday and Saturday. There are three championship games on Sunday. Here is the schedule.

Now that you know who and when, here is where to watch. Some of the games can be seen on:

Television

The goStanford.com schedule shows that the Stanford/UConn game on the 22nd will be televised by FSN. My Tivo confirms that broadcast on Fox Sports Bay Area (FSBA). It hasn't found the Stanford/ODU game on the 24th, nor any of the championship games on the 25th. (But they may show up later -- check on those days.)

Several, but not all, of the Paradise Jam games will be shown on Fox College Sports (FCS) Pacific. Here is their schedule. (If that link doesn't work for you, try a different browser. It doesn't work with Firefox on either a Mac or a PC.)

How can you see FCS Pacific? It depends on your provider:
  • Comcast offers FCS as part of its premium “Digital Sports Package,” for customers already subscribing to Comcast digital (not analog) service.
    The Digital Sports Package can be ordered by telephone (1-800-266-2278). The promotional rate is $3.00 a month, which increases to $4.95 a month after 6 months. So it would be possible to order the package for the Paradise Jam games and then cancel it, for a total cost of $3.00.
    FCS Pacific is Comcast channel 415 throughout the Bay Area.
  • DirecTV is currently (11/19) offering FCS Pacific automatically (no special package) on "overflow channel" 669. The program is a mens' Paradise Jam game. I haven't been able to determine if this service will be available for the womens' games -- check on those days.
  • Dish Network: I haven't found anything about FCS Pacific here, but if this is your provider, check your online guide.
You can get information about the availability of the FCS channels elsewhere by entering your zip code in the dark blue left-hand sidebar on the FCS website.

It's not clear what FCS Pacific will broadcast on the 25th. The schedule seems to indicate that just one of the championship games will be telecast. But Comcast channel 415 shows three WBB broadcasts on Sunday at 12:30, 3:00 and 5:30 PST -- I'm not sure what the first two are. The times correspond to the first two championship games, but the descriptions are "First Round" and "Second Round Coverage", so they may be prior game highlights. The third broadcast is live, so it will be the third championship game (the one between the #1 teams).

All of the games can be seen on:

Streaming Video

Basketball Travellers Inc. (BTI) will offer live video streaming of all the Paradise Jam games. Here is their schedule, and here is where you subscribe to the service. Be sure that you can view the sample video before you subscribe.

The package you want is: (Wmn) PARADISE JAM - ST THOMAS DIVISION ALL ACCESS PASS!, which costs $17.95.

Note: BTI assures me that the package includes the championship games on the 25th, even though the package description says, "Nov 22nd - Nov 24th".

And the Stanford games will be broadcast on:

KZSU

If you're not in range of the station (90.1 FM), you can listen to its audio stream.

November 18, 2007

Melanie saves the day!

16 seconds to play...Stanford down by 4... Mel steals the ball and shoots a foot-on-the-line jumper!

10 seconds to play ... Stanford down by 3 ... Mel sinks a 3-pointer ... the first of her college career!!

... then there were Kayla's 5 free throws, which kept us going though the first overtime.

... and all the way through, Jayne's monster game ... 20 rebounds ... 30 points ... 6 blocks ... 44 minutes, the last 15 with 4 fouls. Amazing!!!

The game report from the Deseret Morning News begins:
Before Stanford even got off the bus in Salt Lake City, Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer told center Jayne Appel that facing Utah's defense would be tough and that she needed to remain patient.

"I kept that in my mind the whole game, and it helped," said the 6-4 sophomore who led Stanford to an 81-77 double-overtime win against the Utes with 30 points, 20 rebounds and six blocked shots. Appel played the last six minutes of regulation and both overtimes with four fouls.

"I knew I had to stay in the game, especially after Candice (Wiggins) fouled out," she said. "I just thought it's better to give up two points than foul, as crazy as that sounds." (More ... )
Here are the AP game recap and the box score from Stanford Athletics.

November 16, 2007

Cardinal does its civic duty

Tara said, "I guess we definitely don't want to be the last one on USA's schedule and help them with their focus. We were doing our civic duty, I guess."

Here are:

November 15, 2007

Big impression, abuse, new uniforms and going pro

Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle) writes that Stanford finally made a big impression:
Stanford's 60-58 win over No. 3 Rutgers in New Jersey on Sunday was a big one for the Cardinal for several reasons.

It was big because it was the highest-ranked team the Cardinal has beaten on the road since defeating No. 2 Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. on Nov. 19, 1994.



It was big because it happened on the East Coast, where the folks who believe their brand of basketball is best don't often get to see the Cardinal.

It was big because it happened on ESPN. For the most part, the only time Stanford gets seen on ESPN is during the tournament and last year's second-round loss made a lasting, stinging impression, one that the Rutgers win might have done a little to change.

(More ... )
Alex Delanian (New Jersey Star Ledger) writes about Stanford's overpowering defense against Rutgers:
Kia Vaughn went through the entire arsenal of moves.

She pinned the defender, looking for a lob, but Kayla Pedersen's outstretched arms were there to take away the angle. She tried to bull through the middle, but Jayne Appel matched her strength and forced an off-balance shot.

The lesson of the night? It's not easy being the center of attention.

The No. 3 Scarlet Knights didn't receive enough of a contribution from their star center in a 60-58 loss to No. 7 Stanford, with Vaughn held scoreless in the first half and finishing with just four points on 1-of-3 shooting, an afterthought in an offense that saw Essence Carson, Epiphanny Prince and Matee Ajavon combine for 41 of the team's 58 field goal attempts.

"She should've touched the ball a lot more," coach C. Vivian Stringer said.

And while she was effective in help defense, altering the shots of the driving Cardinal guards, she had trouble containing Appel, Stanford's star center. The 6-foot-4 sophomore finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, muscling her way to a number of easy inside opportunities against one of the nation's top centers.

Pedersen, another 6-foot-4 player with more of a finesse style, was the unexpected lift for the Stanford offense. The freshman scored 15 points, pulled down 16 rebounds and was a nuisance for a Rutgers team that didn't have the size to compete with a second large post presence.

Pedersen grabbed the key offensive board that allowed Appel to score the game-tying basket with just over 35 seconds to play.

"I thought they really just overpowered us to the inside," Stringer said. "I think both (Appel and Pedersen) just completely abused us ... the four-five battery ate us up, it's as simple as that."

(More ... )
Darren Sabeda (San Jose Mercury News) writes about Cardinal teams looking good:
So much for the women's team needing time to adapt to life without post players Brooke Smith and Kristen Newlin.

Donning new black road uniforms, Stanford made a statement last weekend, throttling Yale 100-44 in the season opener before taking care of Rutgers.

"New uniforms, new team, new attitude," said Wiggins, a three-time All-American. "I think the new black uniforms actually symbolize how our team is. We just have a different attitude - younger, fresher. It's an energetic bunch."

The young bunch includes much-hyped freshman Kayla Pedersen. The 6-foot-4 forward followed a 15-point, nine-rebound effort in the opener with a 15-point, 16-rebound performance against Rutgers.

Jayne Appel, last season's much-hyped freshman, has not slowed down. Also a 6-4 forward, she averaged 19 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two games.

Wiggins, one of two seniors on the team, led the way against Rutgers with 19 points.

Stanford will get an even bigger challenge tonight. Team USA, featuring such stars as Lisa Leslie and Diana Taurasi, is 7-0 on its college tour, winning by an average of 25.6 points. Its closest victory came at Tennessee, 83-72.

"It'll be fun to have the gym with those players," said Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer, who led the national team to an Olympic gold medal in 1996. "Our best might not be good enough to beat the USA team. . . . But it's a great opportunity."

Wyndam Makowsky (The Stanford Daily) writes about the Cardinal's game against the pros tonight:
For one night only, Stanford is going pro.

For one of the few times this year, Stanford will be the underdog, facing perhaps the best professional women’s squad in the world.

In order to keep pace with USA Basketball, the Cardinal will have to control the boards and score at an above-average rate, in addition to playing tough defense. Pedersen and Appel will be tasked with covering Leslie, a daunting prospect for the freshman, who has yet to make defense one of her strong suits. The sophomore forward will be severely tested by Leslie’s athleticism and skill.

(More ... )

November 14, 2007

Michelle out for the season

No more beautiful layups from Michelle this season.

She will miss the remainder of the season with a left knee injury that will require surgery.

She was hurt midway through the first half of the Cardinal's 100-44 victory at Yale on Friday. She tore her anterior cruciate ligament and sprained the medial collateral ligament. She will have surgery in the next two to three weeks.

Next up: USA Basketball

The USA Women's National Team has had it pretty much their own way on their college tour, going 7-0 with an average margin of 26 points. The smallest margin was 11 points against Tennessee, the largest 51 points against Texas A & M, and the most recent 24 points last night against USC.

USC put up a strong fight, and were the first team on the tour to lead the USA at halftime. But USA dominated the second half and won easily.

The tour finishes tomorrow night at Maples. Here's your chance to see the world's best basketball players -- Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird ... and Jamie Carey, who is filling in for injured guard Loree Murphy. They may be surprised by how tough the Cardinal can be!

Here is a report of the entire tour.

November 13, 2007

Rutger's Ruminations

By Warren Grimes Contributing Columnist, The Bootleg

Multi-sport Contributing Columnist Warren Grimes recaps the seventh-ranked Stanford Women's Basketball team's tremendous final-1/10th-of-a-second Sunday night road victory over third-ranked Rutgers back in Piscataway, NJ and provides his thoughts on some of the monster individual performances on offense and defense. As has so often been the case, it was Wiggins' World once again at the buzzer! (More ...)

November 12, 2007

Stanford/Rutgers Photo Gallery

SportsPage Magazine's photo gallery of the Stanford/Rutgers game

The Cardinal aren't going to be pushed around

Freshman Kayla Pedersen had 16 points and 15 boards to lift Stanford.

Controversial finish? Sure. But don't let Candice Wiggins' winning free throws with a tenth of a second left in Stanford's 60-58 win over No. 3 Rutgers overshadow the real story line: The Cardinal aren't going to be pushed around this season.

Graham Hays (ESPN) writes about the New Season, New Side of Stanford.

Here is Scott Bland's (The Stanford Daily) Game Report and an Opinion Piece, which concludes, "Whether for right or wrong reasons, Rutgers women’s basketball is all over the news, and people know that it is a good program. Stanford just beat the Scarlet Knights on national television. People are going to be paying attention to the Cardinal after this."
Here are the AP game recap, photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics.

November 10, 2007

News from the New Haven Register

Jayne scoring two of her twenty points
Cardinal Clobber Yale

As Chris Gobrecht watched Candice Wiggins, Jayne Appel, Kayla Pedersen and the rest of the Stanford women's basketball team score pretty much at will on Friday afternoon, the Yale coach probably thought some introductions were needed.

No, not with the stars of the seventh-ranked Cardinal, but with the members of her own team, who, at times, bore little resemblance to the squad she was expecting to see in Yale's season opener.

Gobrecht began her third season at the helm of the Yale program by watching her nervous group of Bulldogs fall 100-44 at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.

Full story
Here are the AP game recap, photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics.

Competition still fueling Gobrecht and VanDerveer

They are less cantankerous now, a concession to age and perspective. But other than the circumstances that brought these two wild and crazy coaches together again at the Lee Amphitheater at Payne Whitney Gym Friday, not much else has changed about Stanford's Tara VanDerveer and Yale's Chris Gobrecht.

Full story

UConn Series With Cardinal in Works

When the Stanford and Connecticut women's basketball teams play in the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Nov. 22, it will be the first regular-season meeting between the two elite programs in a decade.

The wait for the next meeting will come a lot sooner.

After her team defeated Yale 100-44 on Friday, Stanford coach Tara VanderVeer said that a home-and-away series with UConn is in the works.

"We're working on it," VanderVeer said. "Connecticut has a great program, and we'd love to get a yearly game, as we have been doing with Tennessee. We have to hold up our end of the bargain and do the things to make it a rivalry. With Connecticut, we haven't played them a lot, but our games have been very competitive.

"We are working on dates. We'd love to play them."

The teams played four times in a 46-month span from 1993-97. VanderVeer said the two sides are close to finalizing the deal for the series, which would start either in the 2008-09 or the 2009-10 seasons.

November 08, 2007

Candice takes aim at her final title shot

Graham Hays (ESPN) writes:
The first three seasons of Candice Wiggins' Stanford career ensured she'll leave The Farm as the greatest player in the program's illustrious history. Her final season will determine whether she leaves Palo Alto as the greatest Stanford player never to win a national championship.

Thanks in large part to an infusion of young talent headlined by sophomore post Jayne Appel, the Cardinal appear to have more than an outside shot of ensuring that doesn't happen.



And even if Appel, the program's next great star, and the rest of the team's young players can't fully realize the magnitude of the task ahead of them, they have a very tangible image of what they're working for right in front of them.

"I think she worked extremely hard all three years," said Appel, a Bay Area native who followed Wiggins and the Cardinal long before signing on herself. "Being a part of the team and seeing it even more has helped me want to get it for her that much more. So it will definitely be a fight this year to get it for her."
Read the rest of the article and learn Tara's 11th commandment for Jayne.

Watch the Yale and Rutgers games

Don't you hate it when the season starts with two tough away games, and you can't be there yelling, "GO-O-O-O-O STANFORD!!!"

One exhibition game and they're gone! But you can see both games.

The Yale game on Friday at 1:00 PT will be video-streamed on the Yale All-Access (CSTV) channel. And archived -- so if you're busy working, you can watch it in the evening. This is how to see the game:

  1. Access the Yale Bulldog website
  2. Click the Yale All-Access icon at the top of the righthand sidebar
  3. Click the image
  4. Click Women's Basketball
  5. Sign in, or register if you haven't already done so (it's free)
  6. Click Watch the Yale/Stanford game
  7. Expand the screen (icon at right of play bar), which gives you a somewhat better view
This works on a PC with IE 6.0 or higher and on a Mac with Safari 2. It doesn't work on either with Firefox, nor with Safari 3 (which comes with the Leopard operating system on a Mac).

Here is Yale's 2007-08 Season Preview and GoStanford's preview of the game.

The Rutgers game on Sunday will be on ESPN at 5:00 PT. (Both the channel and time were changed a couple of weeks ago.)

Here is a story about Rutgers' expectations for 2007-08.

November 07, 2007

Solid Gold at the point

Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle) reports that Ros returns leaner, stronger and a more confident player after absorbing the lessons that come from spending a season on the bench.

Ros said, " I feel like mentally, I'm so much stronger. I spent the whole year developing, watching people who were doing well, watching people who weren't doing well, and learning and comparing to what I would have done in that situation."

Tara said, "Who's this new girl? She's grown up a lot. She watched for a year and it hit her, I think.

Here is the whole story and Michelle's preview of Cal and of the Bay Area WCC teams: Santa Clara, USF and St.Mary's.

November 05, 2007

Make room for Cal

Laurence Miedema (The Mercury News) reports that the most heralded recruiting class in Cal history is determined to help the Bears give Stanford a run for its money on the Bay Area women's basketball scene.

Here are some quotes from his story:
  • Tara:" It creates a buzz about women's basketball in the Bay Area. There is plenty of room for great teams and great players out here. It's a good rivalry and a healthy rivalry. There's nothing that says that we both couldn't go to the Elite Eight or the Final Four."

  • Joanna Boyle: "I try not to compare us, because the schools and the teams are so different. But (Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer) has set a really high bar. I just felt that in time we could be one of the elite teams in the country, and I want to also do it on a consistent basis."

  • Candice:" I didn't like people thinking we were the only good team in the Pac-10. Cal's success is good for everybody."

  • Alexis Gray-Lawson: "This is the reason we (Alexis and Devanei Hampton and Ashley Walker) decided to come here. We wanted to make a name for ourselves."

Here is the whole story,
the Stanford women's basketball preview,
the Cal women's basketball preview,
the Santa Clara women's basketball preview and
the San Jose State women's basketball preview,

November 04, 2007

Stanford rolls to 95-44 win over Chico State

Michelle Smith (SF Chronicle) reports that Stanford newcomers shone in the exhibition game against Chico State. And so they did -- Kayla had 17 points and 10 rebounds; Jeanette had 16 points and 8 rebounds.

But Jillian led the effort with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists!
Morgan had 6 blocks -- 3 of them in one possession!

Jeanette's injury came late in the fourth quarter. She sat out the rest of the game with an ice bag on her thigh, and walked around with no apparent discomfort after the game. It's reported to have been a charley horse.

Here is GoStanford's report of the game and the box score.

November 02, 2007

Candice geared up for strong final season

AP sports writer Jane McCauley writes about Candice's final season, her role as a leader for the Cardinal, and her hopes for the future. Here's the article.

November 01, 2007

An interview with Jillian & Michelle

The Bootleg columnist Sue Bair interviewed Jillian and Michelle, who are expected to be major Cardinal contributors this season.

Michelle worked with a trainer all summer to improve her conditioning and strength -- the coaches are calling her the "most improved" of the returning players in terms of conditioning. With a year of experience behind her, she expects to contribute much more this season.

Jillian worked on her perimeter shooting this summer, taking Tara's advice that this is the key to elevating her game. With four seniors having graduated, she expects to be more of a leader this season.

They both had a lot more to say. Here is the complete interview.