There’s No Slowing Stanford’s Machine

Finally, Pacific 10 rivals hoped, there might be a crack, a blip, maybe even a collapse of the Stanford women’s basketball juggernaut.

Hardly.

In the home stretch of a season even Stanford partisans had fretted about, the Cardinal has won 12 consecutive games after a 61-59 victory over UCLA on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion. Stanford, 18-2 overall, 11-0 in the Pac-10 and ranked fourth in the nation, is trying to become only the second Pac-10 women’s team to go undefeated in conference play since the Cardinal did it in 1989.

Even with its head coach gone for a year, losing four of its first six players from last season’s Final Four team and losing a key player for the season in January, the Stanford women roll on.

Stanford learned more than a year ago that Coach Tara VanDerveer would be named coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team.

Great gig for VanDerveer, but troublesome for Stanford.

USA Basketball requires the coach of its women’s Olympic team to be on the job a full year, meaning VanDerveer had to resign at Stanford, then be rehired after the Olympics.

Her longtime assistant, Amy Tucker, was promoted to interim coach for this season, and former USC coach Marianne Stanley was named co-head coach.

Friday night’s game at USC marked Stanley’s first professional visit there since she chose not to renew her contract with USC in 1993. She has a gender bias suit pending against the school.

In the 1990s, Stanford has reached the Final Four more than any other school--four times--and the final 16 the last eight seasons. Twice, in 1990 and ‘92, Stanford won the NCAA championship.

The Cardinal has won 46 of its last 50 games. Since 1987, Stanford’s worst season was 25-6.

Kate Starbird, a 6-foot-2 junior who averaged 32 points in the Pac-10 season’s first four games, is the current team leader.

A slashing player who can also shoot from long range, Starbird had to be coaxed to shoot. After a season-opening loss at Massachusetts in which Starbird took five shots, Tucker took her aside.

“Kate, we want you to take 20 shots a game,” she told her.

Still the reluctant gunner, she averages 15.7 shots a game, but is averaging 20.2 points.

Against UCLA (10-10, 5-6) on Sunday, Starbird and Vanessa Nygaard each scored 19.

Some say junior point guard Jamila Wideman might be Stanford’s most valuable player. She’s averaging five assists and almost three steals. She had seven assists Sunday playing before 5,512.

“She’s a tremendous point guard. Without her, we could be a .500 team,” Stanley said.

Wideman is coming off nearly two lost years. She injured her left foot in her freshman season and it hadn’t fully healed even by last summer.

Not even the season-ending loss of senior Bobbie Kelsey to knee surgery has slowed Stanford.

The Cardinal lost three senior starters from last season, plus sensational freshman Kristin Folkl, who is off for a year, trying out for the U.S. Olympic volleyball team.

The Stanford women have a three-game lead in the Pac-10 with eight to play.

“Honestly, I’m surprised we’re up three,” Tucker said. “Everyone below us is beating up on each other.”

Sunday’s victory didn’t come easily. UCLA’s Erica Gomez missed a three-point shot with three seconds remaining that could have tied the game and was fouled after the shot, with one second left.

Gomez, a freshman, made the first free throw to draw UCLA within two points, but in her effort to miss the second attempt, she failed to hit the rim.

Nickey Hilbert led the Bruins with 18 points.

OTHER GAMES

USC 89, California 71--Tina Thompson had 25 points and 17 rebounds as the Trojans handed the Bears a school-record ninth consecutive loss, at the Lyon Center.

Freshman guard Erica Mashia added 17 points for USC (10-10, 5-6). Kelley Tatum lead the Bears (5-15, 1-10) with 22 points.