Cardinal upends the Utes 87-51

This game was decided in the first quarter, which ended with Stanford up by 23, at 31-8.

Stanford was scoring, but their defense was also clicking, and it forced Utah into an absolutely disastrous scoring drought. Utah scored no field goals at all, from 7:59 in the first quarter until 4:52 in the second quarter: almost thirteen minutes with nothing but a couple of free throws.

Then the Utes (who had beaten Cal two days before) pulled themselves together and played the Cardinal almost even for most of the rest of the game, even at one point briefly reducing their deficit to fewer than twenty points. It is possible to climb out of a twenty-point hole — Stanford has done it — but to the relief of Cardinal fans this year's Utah team could not.

Alanna had an excellent game, leading all scorers with 16 points, five rebounds, two steals, a block, and only one foul in 20 minutes of play.

Brittany had 13 points, six rebounds, two steals and a block.

Karlie also had 13 points, plus five rebounds.

Bri had ten points, including a three-point shot to open the scoring just seven seconds into the game. During the pregame talk, Tempe said they were encouraging Bri to take more shots, and that message seems to have been received — she sank another three-pointer and a jumper later in the game.

Kaylee scored four points, blocked two shots, and pulled in five O-boards in only 14 minutes on the floor.

Marta had five points plus dishing seven assists with only one turnover. One of the assists was on a play that brought the crowd to its feet. Marta fired an arcing pass from the left shoulder to just right of the basket. Brittany flew up from the floor to catch it and pop it into the basket. During the post-game talk, Tara said this was a play they practiced, called the "Tiger Lob". (This play is shown early in the Britt interview – link below.)

The big lead allowed Tara to put in a team consisting of Alexa, Anna, Dijonai, Nadia and Shannon for almost half of the fourth quarter. Everyone available played at least five minutes (Mikaela was out for personal reasons) and all but Anna scored.

Seven Cardinal sank three-pointers today. Shannon's was the first of her career.

In response to a question after the game, Amy said that you can't teach free throws, although the team practices them a lot. Some days they're on, some days not — today the Cardinal delighted their fans by sinking 18 of 20 for a sizzling 90%.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Fast Start Buries Utah, the Associated Press game recap by Jeff Faraudo
(as posted by Stanford Athletics)
• Stanford women's basketball uses strong first quarter to power past Utah, the Pac-12 game recap video
• No. 8 Stanford Too Much for Utah, the Utah Athletics game recap
• 31-point 1st quarter propels Stanford women to 87-51 rout of Utah by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
• WBB: Stanford 87 Utah 51 from the CARDboard
• Women’s basketball sweeps weekend at home by Lorenzo Rosas(The Stanford Daily)

The game statistics,

The game highlights video,

A video interview of Brittany

The audio press conference with Tara and Alanna,

And a few photos by Scott Strazzante (The Chonicle):

Kaylee protects the paint

Bird and Karlie bottle up Wendy Anae

Tara shouts instructions

Britt beats the Buffs

Two-thirds of this game were hard for Cardinal fans to watch as the Cardinal seemed unable to make any headway against a fast, clever Colorado defense that frequently alternated zone and player strategies. Then, suddenly, just into the fourth quarter, everything was all right again, largely thanks to Brittany McPhee.

The first quarter may have been the lowest-scoring quarter in forever, or certainly in the season. Both teams are known for defense; and neither team seemed able to score consistently; so the quarter ended in a tie, 9-9.

In the second quarter, the Buffaloes found some offense and pulled ahead by five, 16-21. Five felt like a seriously deep hole in such a low-scoring game. Then Brittany hit a jumper, and another, and another, to end the half with a more optimistic three-point deficit, 24-27.

In the third quarter Bri hit a three to tie the score; Brittany hit three more buckets, and the Cardinal finally got their first lead, 39-37, on a layup by Alanna. That quarter would have ended with Stanford down by one, except that Bird hit a three-pointer on the buzzer to make the score 46-44.

Entering the fourth quarter it still seemed like anyone's game and fan fingernails were down to the quick. But then Colorado's offense stalled; they stayed at 44 points for almost four minutes while Karlie, Erica and especially Brittany scored steadily. Suddenly fans looked up and realized Stanford was ahead by double digits with only a few minutes to play. Stanford out-scored Colorado 18-7 in that fourth quarter and that put the game decisively away.

Brittany led all scorers with 26 points, plus a career-high eleven rebounds for her first career double-double. (It wasn't quite her season-high scoring; that was 28 against Texas.)

Bird also had a double-double with 15 points (six of them on free throws) and ten rebounds.

Alanna had seven points and eight rebounds and five blocks.

Karlie scored only four points, but that was enough to make her the 38th member of the Stanford 2,000/1,000 Point Club.

Four other players scored a few in this low-scoring game. At this point in the season, any win is a good win; and this one kept Stanford in a three-way tie for the PAC-12 lead.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• McPhee Marvelous in Win, the Associated Press game recap by Jeff Faraudo (as posted by Stanford Athletics)
• No. 8 Stanford women's basketball uses 40 point 2nd half to beat Colorado, the Pac-12 game recap video
• Buffs' Fourth-Quarter Slump Helps No. 8 Cardinal Coast To 64-51 Win, the Colorado Athletics game recap
• WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 from the CARDboard

The game statistics,

The game highlights video,

A video interview of Brittany, "We're tired of losing on our home court."

And the press conference with Tara and Brittany:

Awards keep coming ... and coming ... for Bird

Bird was recognized today by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as one of the top student athletes in the nation. She was selected to the 2016-17 Academic All-District Women’s Basketball Team, District 8.

Bird is a psychology major with a 3.58 cumulative GPA. This is the second consecutive season that she's been voted CoSIDA Academic All-District.

Yesterday, Bird was named to the Late Season Top 20 list for the 2017 John R. Wooden Award®, and she was also named one of 30 players still under consideration for the 2017 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year.

Also on the watch lists for the Wade Trophy and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, Bird is currently 29th on Stanford's list of 1,000-point scorers with 1,211. Her 173 career blocks are fourth at Stanford and she is also ninth in school history with 833 career rebounds.

Read more:

• CoSIDA announcement
• John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy's announces 2016-17 late season top 20
• 2017 Naismith Top 30 Women’s Players List Announced

Bracketology -- upsets and changes

In this week's bracketology, Charlie Creme discusses the fluid nature of bracketology: Pair of top-10 upsets can change the bracket quickly

Of the upset at Maples, he said:

Stanford: The Cardinal had elevated to No. 8 in the committee's eyes, largely off a huge road win over Washington just over a week ago. However, after losing at home to UCLA just three hours after the reveal, Stanford slid back to No. 10.

UCLA: The Bruins' upset was enough to leapfrog Louisville, but no one else. Just three days before it beat Stanford, UCLA lost at Cal and still has the Washington State loss as a black eye.

Cal's sweep of the SoCal schools earned it the nod, and Creme now has seven Pac-12 teams in his bracket:

Bridgeport Region

3 Stanford (no change)

9 California (moved in)

Oklahoma City Region

2 Oregon State (no change)

8 Oregon (no change)

Lexington Region

4 UCLA (no change)

7 Arizona State (down from 6)

Stockton Region

3 Washington (down from 2)

Here's the complete bracket:

Cardinal caged by Bruins

Except for one quarter, the UCLA defense stymied Stanford's best moves, and the Cardinal couldn't stop the Bruins' three-point shooters, resulting in a frustrating loss before a small crowd on a rainy Monday evening.

The first quarter ended with the Cardinal trailing by ten, 12-22. Because that was almost the differential for the final score, one might think the game was settled then, and the teams played even-up the rest of the way -- but that was not the story at all.

In the second quarter, the Cardinal, in the persons of Brittany and Alanna, put a charge into the crowd with a streak of excellent play. Brittany made two of her driving layups. Then Alanna hit a long three from the top of the arc. Then there were made jumpers by Brittany, Alanna, and Karlie. And a layup by Alanna and a jumper by Karlie and a three from Bri and ... at the half, Stanford was ahead, 40-37.

Sadly, after that streak of splendid offense, the Cardinal went scoreless for the first four minutes of the third quarter while the Bruins caught up. The two teams played close for a while, with the third quarter ending with Stanford down only four, 51-55.

In the fourth, the Cardinal could not progress. On two consecutive possessions they stopped UCLA from scoring only to immediately turn the ball over on a bad pass. Those two turnovers squelched any chance of a last-minute comeback.

The Bruin defense denied Karlie all but a few three-point shots but, as usual, she found other ways to contribute. She played all 40 minutes of this grueling game. She dished the game-high seven assists and and never turned the ball over. She led the Cardinal scoring with 15 points, including two three-pointers (of five attempts).

Karlie now has 212 three-pointers in her career and stands alone in fourth place in the Stanford record book. She needs 26 more to move up past sister Bonnie into third place. At her current rate, she will get them if the Cardinal make it to the Pac-12 championship game and the NCAA Elite Eight (which, I daresay, would please Karlie more than beating Bonnie).

Bird ground out her ninth double-double of the season (14 points, 11 rebounds) against the Bruin's aggressive post defense.

Alanna had 14 points ...

... and Brittany, 13.

Bri had 12 points from hitting four treys. The last two of these were in the final seconds when, twice in a row, Stanford got possession after a UCLA free throw and Bri sprinted down the court to hit a three.

This was all the more remarkable because near the end of the third quarter Bri had suffered a full-speed, bug-on-windshield collision with a UCLA screener, and had left the floor, shaken up. Yet she was back ten minutes later, hitting clutch threes.

However, the Bruins were making all their free throws, so the last-second heroics were for nothing.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• No. 15 UCLA stuns eighth-ranked Stanford to shake up Pac-12, the Associated Press game recap (also posted by UCLA Athletics and Stanford Athletics
• UCLA women snap Stanford’s 7-game winning streak by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Bruins turn tough to beat Stanford women in hoops by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online)
• Women’s basketball drops second conference loss against No. 15 UCLA by Lorenzo Rosas (The Stanford Daily)
• UCLA Beats Stanford in Palo Alto For First Time in Since 1999, 85-76 by Melissa Castro (Bruin Nation)
• WBB: UCLA 85 Stanford 76 from the CARDboard

The game statistics,

The game highlights video,

A gallery of photos by Bob Drebin (isiphotos.com),

And Tara talks about a disappointing game ...

NCAA's second reveal

The NCAA women's basketball committee announced its current top 16 seeds for the second time tonight (before the Stanford/UCLA game). The top 16 seeds will be revealed once more this season on February 20 before the actual NCAA selection show which will be Monday March 13 (ESPN 4 p.m. PT).

The top 16 are:

1. UConn 
2. Baylor 
3. South Carolina 
4. Mississippi State 
5. Florida State 
6. Notre Dame 
7. Oregon State 
8. Stanford 
9. Maryland 
10. Washington 
11. Texas 
12. Duke 
13. Louisville 
14. UCLA 
15. NC State 
16. DePaul

In regard to Pac-12 teams:

• Oregon State moved up to 7 from 8.
• Stanford moved up to 8 from 12.
• Washington moved down to 10 from 6.
• UCLA stayed at 14.
• Arizona State moved out.

Here is Mechelle Voepel's report: UConn remains in No. 1 overall spot NC State and DePaul new to list

Celebrating Tara's Milestone

There are almost 70 tributes to Tara in the following video — far more than were shown on the Maples video board on Friday night. Click here for an index.

Stanford's Tara VanDerveer joins history by Michelle Smith (Pac-12)

Stanford Women’s Basketball: Tara VanDerveer reaches 1,000 victories from the (Rule of Tree)

Milestone doesn’t begin to tell story of Tara VanDerveer’s career by Scott Ostler (San Francisco Chronicle)

Stanford’s VanDerveer hits 1,000 wins, avoids drenching, sends her mom home by Mark Purdy (Mercury News)

Stanford's VanDerveer Wins 1,000th Career Game by R.J. Abeyta (Scout)

Legendary: VanDerveer reaches rare air with 1000th win by Carly Grenfell (Swish Appeal)

A magical night at Maples: VanDerveer gets win No. 1,000 by Jacob Rayburn (Cardinal Sports Report)

Former players on hand to honor Tara VanDerveer's 1,000th victory by Mechelle Smith (espnW)

Breaking 1,000: Tara VanDerveer’s basketball journey by Lorenzo Rosas (Stanford Daily)

Through the Decades, Tara's path to 1.000 career wins from Stanford Athletics

Cardinal trounces Trojans for Tara's 1000th career win

The Trojans worked hard to avoid being the answer to a trivia question, but they didn't stand a chance.

The Cardinal, determined to get it for Tara, broke the game wide open toward the end of the third quarter and and carried on to a 58-42 victory.

There were noticeably more cars flowing into the Maples lot an hour before game-time, and more than usual at Kissick for Tempe's pre-game talk. (The final attendance count was 4,490, just ten shy of Uber-fan Wally Mersereau's half-time estimate).

The Cardinal started well, getting fouled and hitting four free-throws, followed by a drive and layup by Karlie. USC coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke called time at 7:40 with the score 6-0.

After that the Trojans got their defense together. Also, the basketball leprechauns crept in and put an invisible lid on both baskets. The remainder of the first half was full of intense, fast action, but little scoring.

The half was about to end with Stanford up six, but the Cardinal had the final possession. With four seconds on the clock, the ball squirted out of bounds off a Trojan player. Karlie inbound to Bird in the corner who hiked up a three that dropped into the net half a second short of the buzzer. Bird celebrated all the way down the court on the way to the locker room.

The Cardinal were still up by nine, 39-30, with 3:44 to play in the third quarter. Then Karlie found open floor for a fraction of a second and hit a three. A minute later she hit another. And a minute later, another. And to end the quarter, a jumper. That string of eleven points put the Cardinal up by 20, 52-32, and basically put the game away. The teams scored evenly through the fourth until the buzzer, and the celebration of Tara's 1000th victory.

Karlie's third-quarter outburst made her the leading scorer with 21 points: three treys three layups, and six of six free-throws. She has now made 210 treys in her career and is tied with Vanessa Nygaard for fourth place in the Stanford record book.

Bird had 18 points, including that end-of-the-half three, and five rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Brittany had ten points. Four players had two points each: Marta, Nadia, Bri and Kaylee. Kaylee, who had to sit out much of the first half with two fouls, still managed to pull down eleven rebounds in 25 minutes of play.

Tara's final word to the crowd: "I'll always remember this, and I'm moving on to 1,001 on Monday night."

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer joins elite 1,000 wins club, the Associated Press game recap by Janie McCauley
• USC fall to No. 8 Stanford, 58-42, the USC Athletics game recap
• Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer reaches 1,000-victory milestone in style by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
• Cardinal women rejoice in VanDerveer’s 1,000th career win by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
• VanDerveer's grand victory moves her into elite company by Mechelle Voepel (espnW)
• Stanford 58 U.SC 42 for Tara's 1000th from the CARDboard

The game statistics,

The game highlights video,

The postgame celebration highlights,

The complete postgame celebration

A video interview of Tara

A video press conference, first Karlie and Bird, then Tara,

Transcript of Tara's press conference,

A gallery of photos from isiphotos.com,

And more tomorrow about Tara and her milestone win.

Honoring Tara

Note: Newer articles are at end.

Tara VanDerveer’s climb to 1,000 wins: An oral history by Ron Kroichick (San Francisco Chronicla)

Tara VanDerveer goes after 1,000 victories–a milestone worth many “wows” by Marc Purdy (Mercury News)-- story and video

One win shy of 1,000, Tara VanDerveer continues to cement her legacy at Stanford by Vytas Maxeika (Mercury News)

The Cardinal Rule by Scott Kindberg (The Post-Journal)

On brink of history, Tara VanDerveer still puts peers and players first by Michelle Smith (espnw)

Tara VanDerveer chases more history, 1,000th career win by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)

Top 10 moments of Tara VanDerveer's coaching career by Michelle Smith (espnW)

Tara VanDerveer’s legacy: Players tell coach stories as 1,000th victory nears by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)

Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer gave women a chance by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)

The day Chiney Ogwumike knocked out Tara VanDerveer by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)

Former Stanford star and current Duck assistant Nicole Powell reflects on Tara VanDerveer’s success BY Jonathan Hawthorne (Daily Emerald)

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer approaching win No. 1,000 - What others are saying about her achievement from the Associated Pressround

Ms 1000? - Around the Rim with LaChina Robinson (espnW)

From humble start, a legendary career by Ann Killion (San Francisco Chronicle)

Tara VanDerveer: First Chance at History, video from Stanford Athletics

Former Players On Stanford Basketball's Tara VanDerveer On the Precipice of 1,000 Wins by R.J. Abeytia

Some Great Story Lines for Tara VanDerveer’s 999th Win: Some Others Not So Good

By Warren Grimes

It was a memorable 999th victory for Tara VanDerveer. Down by 18 points midway through the second quarter, Kelsey Plum had made all six of her three point shot attempts. She finished the half with 26 points, and Washington had 45, apparently on its way to a 90 point game that could leave Stanford in the dust. Oh, and add the10,000 screaming Husky fans supporting the nation’s #7 ranked team and expecting a big win. On top of that, Stanford’s three point shooting was dismal (0-10) until Nadia Fingall converted at the end of the half.

The last 25 minutes of the game were a different story. Stanford clamped down on UW while ramping up its own offense, outscoring the Huskies by 22 points to take a great come-from-behind win against a top ten team.

Brittany McPhee is another great story line. Playing 37 minutes in her home state, McPhee racked up 17 points (the most of any Stanford player) along with 7 boards, 2 blocks and 3 steals. She played with focus and hustle throughout the game. Emblematic of McPhee’s performance — two come-from-behind swipes to knock the ball away when Kelsey Plum was running hard in transition. McPhee’s end of game moves made the difference. First, McPhee stole the ball at mid court and ran for a lay up. Then McPhee blocked a Plum shot attempt.

Still another story line would be that the win was a quintessential team victory. All three seniors contributed mightily (McCall, Roberson, and Samuelson). McCall had 16 points in a rejuvenated second half effort. Roberson made 3 of 6 three point attempts, all in the critical second half comeback. Samuelson did not convert any threes, but still managed a hard fought 10 points, including critical end of game free throws. And Sniezek made the only three she attempted, and penetrated on several plays to produce a lay up and three points from the charity stripe.

Candidly, a lot of other possible story lines did not work out so well. Here are some of the failures.

To Win In Seattle, Stanford Needs Three Point Shooters to Step Up

After all, that’s how Stanford bested the Huskies last year in Maples. Experienced three point shooters like Karlie Samuelson, Brittany McPhee, and Alanna Smith have to make the Huskies pay.

Well . . . uhm . . . these three players were 0-10 from three point territory.

To Win Against the Huskies, Stanford Must Start Strong

Stanford did this last year in Maples, but not this time.

Stanford Must Hold Kelsey Plum to 30 Points

Darn, missed again on that one. But only by 14 points. And Stanford did hold Plum to a mere 18 points in the second half.

Natalie Romeo on her way to Player of Week Honor

Romeo scored a career high 32 points against Cal on Friday and seemed on her way to weekly conference recognition for the two weekend games. To win POW, Romeo probably needed something more modest like another 16 points against Stanford. Well, that one did not work out either. But, do the math, Romeo did average 16 points for the two weekend games.

UW is a deeper and more balanced team than last year

Hmm. Maybe so, but not on Sunday. It was Kelsey Plum 44 - rest of team 24.

Stanford makes “unexpected” comeback against UW

These words were on the Stanford sports web site. But was the comeback genuinely unexpected? I suppose at the 15 minute mark in the game, one’s confidence in the Stanford team might have been severely tested, but I thought the team looked focused and hungry throughout the game. They had already shaved 6 points off the 18-point margin before the end of the half. With nine minutes left in the game, Stanford had already tied the score.

Besides, this is a Hall of Fame coach who knows how to get her teams ready to fight back. I’ve watched a Stanford team overcome a 26 point first half deficit (against Oregon in February of 2000 ). They won that game by 16 points. That’s a 42 point turn around. I’ve watched a number of critical games against UCLA when Stanford has overcome double digit deficits.

There are good reasons why TVD is about to win her 1000th game.