Stanford Ends Dream Season for Irvine : NCAA Women: Folkl comes off bench to spark Cardinal, 88-55.

Thirteen years ago, Jinelle Williams’ mother, who worked at Stanford, dragged Williams and her two sisters to a women’s basketball game at Maples Pavilion. It was hardly a defining moment in Williams’ life, she only vaguely remembers it and didn’t start playing basketball until five years later.

But Thursday night, her basketball experience came full circle in the same building, as the Cardinal knocked Williams’ UC Irvine team out of the NCAA tournament with an 88-55 victory in front of 5,350.

Stanford (27-2) will play Southern Methodist here Saturday night. The Lady Mustangs, who tried a tournament-record 91 field goals, beat Southern Mississippi, 96-95, in overtime.

If SMU-Southern Mississippi was a classic shootout, the Cardinal-Anteater game was a world-class blowout. Still, getting here was a victory for Williams, Cher Scanlon and Michele Kahler, the Anteater seniors who never won more than five games in their first three seasons.

The Cardinal probably didn’t need much motivation against Irvine, but they were inspired by what they perceived as a snub by the NCAA selection committee. Coach Tara VanDerveer said being seeded No. 2 in the West was akin to asking for a puppy for your birthday, “but you get a gerbil.”

Thursday night, they got an Anteater, which turned out to be just about as fierce as a gerbil.

After a slow start, Stanford’s athleticism, depth and huge height advantage took its toll.

Freshman Kristin Folkl, an All-American volleyball player, came off the bench midway through the first half and wowed the crowd. She scored 14 points in the final 5 1/2 minutes of the half and Stanford led at intermission, 48-29.

And then it got worse. When Folkl, who led Stanford with 20 points, stole an inbound pass and made a layup with 14:17 remaining, Stanford led, 64-35.

Folkl made nine of 11 shots, had six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in 17 minutes.

Allah-mi Basheer led Irvine (19-11) with 19 points and seven rebounds.