WOMEN’S BASKETBALL NCAA TOURNAMENT : Give Iowa the Edge in Drive, if Not Talent

One from the West and one from the heart.

That’s the spin on the NCAA round of 16 women’s basketball teams, which begin play in four regional tournaments today.

Stanford, playing as though it is ready for a charge to a second consecutive NCAA championship and its third in four years, plays underdog Colorado today at the West Regional at the University of Montana.

But a team from the heartland, Iowa, is the sentimental favorite. It is a team that was shattered, found its way again, and now wants to win it all for a coach whose world fell apart four months ago.

Iowa Coach Vivian Stringer lost her husband of 22 years last Thanksgiving Day when Bill Stringer, 48, died of a heart attack.

It wasn’t the only 1992-93 basketball season tragedy at Iowa. Seven weeks later, men’s team standout Chris Street died in an automobile accident.

But for Stringer and her team, the first loss was a crusher. Bill Stringer was the Iowa team’s “Mr. Mom.”

He was the team’s conditioning coach, and a special kind of father.

There are three Stringer children, 13, 12 and 8. The middle child, daughter Janine, suffered brain damage from a meningitis attack a decade ago and is in a wheelchair.

When Vivian Stringer was at practice, or traveling with her team, Bill Stringer was at home, caring for their children.

Many times, Stringer took his children and drove to road games, often hundreds of miles distant.

At home games, through nine seasons, he and the children sat directly across the court from his wife, always in the same seats.

After he died--early in a season when Stringer had perhaps her best team--Vivian Stringer left the team for a month.

When she returned, the team won 20 of 23 games and shared the Big Ten championship with Ohio State.

Tonight, in the Mideast Regional on their home court in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes (25-3) will play Auburn (25-3). The winner will play the winner of tonight’s other semifinal between Tennessee (28-2) and North Carolina (23-6) on Saturday.

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Stanford looked every bit the tournament favorite last Saturday night, beating Georgia, 93-60, in a second-round game. Point guard Molly Goodenbour sank five three-pointers en route to a 29-point game and Val Whiting became Stanford’s all-time scoring leader with 20 points.

Stanford (26-5), the No. 1-seeded team in the West, is a prohibitive favorite over Colorado (26-3) tonight in Missoula.

If Stanford beats Colorado, the Cardinal will meet tonight’s USC-Texas Tech winner Saturday.

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In the Midwest Regional at Nacogdoches, Tex., Vanderbilt (27-2), ranked No. 1 in the nation, must play Stephen F. Austin (28-4) on its home court.

Vanderbilt has the nation’s tallest player in 6-10 Heidi Gillingham and what Coach Jim Foster says is one of the country’s best defenses.

“We lost our offense for about 10 games in our conference season, but our defense never wavered,” Foster said.

The Vanderbilt-Stephen F. Austin winner plays the Southwest Missouri (23-8)-Louisiana Tech (25-5) winner Saturday.

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In the East Regional, at Richmond, Va., Georgetown (23-6) and Virginia (25-5) meet tonight, and the winner plays the Ohio State (25-3)-Western Kentucky (24-6) winner Saturday.

Virginia, led by 6-5 twins Heidi and Heather Burge of Palos Verdes, are hoping for their second consecutive trip to the Final Four.

Western Kentucky was the hot team during last year’s playoffs, sweeping from nowhere to the championship game in Los Angeles, where they were defeated by Stanford, 78-62.