The No. 2 Stanford women’s basketball team takes to the road this weekend to battle it out against Arizona State and the University of Arizona. With the season winding down to only three more games before the Pac-10 Tournament, the team looks forward to what will be the first of two consecutive weekends on the road. The first game will begin at 6 p.m. tonight at Arizona State (16-9, 8-6 Pac-10) and the weekend will wrap up with a game against Arizona (13-12, 6-8) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Cardinal women can only hope that this weekend will mark a continuation of its current boast-worthy season record (25-1, 15-0). Last weekend at home, Stanford crushed Oregon with a final score of 104-60, and finished the weekend by defeating Oregon State 82-48. The Cardinal women have only incurred one loss this season to No. 1 Connecticut.
“We’re building and playing well at the right time,” said head coach Tara VanDerveer. “During the Oregon game, I was kind of thinking ‘we should be saving some of these baskets . . . we might need that down the stretch.’”
There is no doubt the Cardinal women have been playing confidently this season. One example of this team strength lies in senior center Jayne Appel, who was recently awarded Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for her second consecutive week. Appel is also one of three players at Stanford to achieve 1,000 rebounds and 2,000 points.
“Jayne is doing a great job for us, but she’s not the only story,” VanDerveer said, “whether it’s the rebounding that Nneka [Ogwumike] brings, or the scoring percentage, or Kayla [Pedersen]’s defense or Jeanette [Pohlen], who really stepped up in the Oregon game.”
Because the team has dealt with individual injuries throughout the season to players such as JJ Hones, Appel and Pohlen, flexibility of team positions will be key to a Pac-10 championship.
“We’re getting real quality minutes from girls coming in [off the bench] . . . If we’re able to play eight, nine, even 10 people in some situations, especially looking forward to the tournament, that’s great for us.”
Stanford women’s basketball has won the Pac-10 for each of the last 10 years. The last two years, the team has made it to the Final Four. Students on campus showing support for a team championship are wearing “Put a Ring on It” T-shirts, so the team feels the pressure building for a national victory.
“The tournament feel is starting to come into our team . . . People are realizing that we only have three more regular season games, and then it’s tournament time,” VanDerveer said. “There’s a sense of urgency that Jayne brings and [fellow senior Rosalyn Gold-Onwude] brings to our practices and games.”
Of course, the season is not over, and before the Cardinal women can hope for a national championship, they must finish off the season with confidence and strength. This means the team’s work is not finished; it continues this weekend in Arizona.
VanDerveer notes that Stanford will face some tough pressure defense against Arizona, but the team isn’t worried.
“They have two really excellent players in [Davellyn] Whyte and [Ify] Ibekwe — you’ve got to shut those two players down and then play against a kind of 1-1-3 or 1-3-1 defense that is very effective . . . but our team is up for the challenge and we’re excited about it,” VanDerveer said. “We’re looking forward to going to Arizona.”