While athletics are on hold, Stanford women’s basketball has seen a flurry of activity over the past few weeks as upperclassmen and coaches prepare for the 2020-21 season.
Senior DiJonai Carrington announced her intention to transfer on Twitter Wednesday. As part of the same video, the guard shared that her top three consisted of 11-time national champion UConn, reigning national champion Baylor and Pac-12 foe Oregon. After starting the first five games of the season, Carrington missed the remainder of the season with an injury, maintaining a year of eligibility.
The Cardinal will also lose junior guard Estella Moschkau, who plans to graduate from Stanford in three years. Moschkau chose Stanford over Wisconsin in 2016 but now will return to her home state for her final year of eligibility. While at Stanford, Moschkau made 15 of 27 career 3-pointers.
Earlier in the offseason, Lindy La Rocque ’12 was hired as the head coach at her hometown UNLV. After four Final Fours wearing Cardinal as a player and three on the bench, La Rocque has become the latest success in Tara VanDerveer’s coaching tree. During her time as an assistant coach, La Rocque worked primarily with Stanford’s perimeter players. Currently, the work on a replacement is paused due to Stanford’s hiring freeze.
While Carrington, guard Mikaela Brewer and forward Nadia Fingall have each played their last games in a Stanford uniform, the final member of the senior class, guard Anna Wilson, will have one more year. Stanford announced on Monday that Wilson was granted another year of eligibility.
“With everything that is going on in the world at the moment, there aren’t enough words to describe how grateful I am to have the opportunity to return to Stanford,” Wilson said in a statement.
“Although there is plenty of uncertainty in this strange period of life, being with this team for another year and continuing to build bridges within this community is something I look forward to,” she added. “Second opportunities come rarely, as life is proving that to all of us right now, so this gives me hope and I can’t wait to make more memories with this group of incredible people.”
Wilson missed the first 11 games of her freshman season recovering from a head injury sustained during a practice for the 2016 McDonald’s All-American Game and the final 11 games with a right foot injury. In total, Wilson played in just 48 minutes across six games. As a sophomore, her season was again cut short as a left foot injury caused her to miss the final seven games. In the time since her senior season was cut short, Wilson detailed much of her story in a piece published on ESPN.
Wilson represented Stanford at the 2019 USA Basketball Women’s 3×3 National Championship in Las Vegas, alongside Moschkau and sophomore guards Lacie and Lexie Hull.
Next season, Stanford will incorporate the sixth-ranked recruiting class in the nation. Stanford signed the No. 3 overall recruit Cameron Brink, the top-ranked forward in the class; Jana Van Gytenbeekm, a point guard and Gatorade Colorado’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year; and Agnes-Emma Nnopu, a wing from Victoria, Australia.
All three will be needed as Stanford attempts to keep pace in the battle for Pac-12 supremacy. Oregon, which lost three players to the WNBA draft, including top selection Sabrina Ionescu, is bringing in five five-star recruits for the top overall class. Charmin Smith, another descendant of VanDerveer’s coaching tree, signed her first class, ranked one spot below Stanford’s by ESPN, with three five-stars.
Contact Daniel Martinez-Krams at danielmk ‘at’ stanford.edu.