WOMEN’S FINAL FOUR : Stanford Has Speedy Georgia on Its Mind

Before defeating Auburn for a berth in the women’s Final Four, Stanford’s players and coaches watched Georgia on TV.

Maybe that wasn’t a good idea.

“Saudia Roundtree was really fantastic,” Kate Starbird said. “I’m not going to say we’re scared, but we’re definitely concerned.”

“When we practice this week, I’m going to be running 100s backward,” Jamila Wideman added.

The Cardinal stars weren’t smiling.

Starbird and Wideman, named to the West Regional all-tournament team, like to push the ball up court if the fast break is there.

They said they’ll have to be up to speed on defense this week too to keep up with Roundtree. Roundtree scored 37 points as Georgia defeated top-ranked Louisiana Tech to win the Midwest Regional.

When Stanford meets Georgia in a semifinal game in the Final Four on Friday night in Charlotte, N.C., it will be facing its third Southeastern Conference foe in less than a week.

The Cardinal defeated Alabama in overtime in the regional semifinals and was a 71-57 winner over Auburn late Monday night.

Amy Tucker figured out how to beat Alabama and Auburn. Now, the Stanford co-coach thinks she’s going to have to do a better coaching job if the No. 3-ranked Cardinal is going to be able to get past No. 5 Georgia.

“I thought that we had transition,” she said. “Well, they have transition plus. They’re just an excellent basketball team.”

Stanford will be playing in its fifth Final Four in seven seasons. The 1990s have been good to the Cardinal--for Tara VanDerveer and for her one-season successors, Tucker and Marianne Stanley.

VanDerveer, who will coach the U.S. Olympic team in Atlanta this summer, was in Seattle as a spectator. She couldn’t have been happier with the results if she’d been coaching the team herself.

“She’s been our No. 1 fan all year,” Tucker said.

“It’s been a lot easier than it might have been because they’re winning,” VanDerveer said. “It would have been a lot tougher if they hadn’t done so well.”

After topping Auburn in a game when Vanessa Nygaard made four three-point baskets and scored 23 points, Stanford was 29-2 with a school-record 23-game winning streak.

The Cardinal was worried about Georgia’s fastbreak, but the Stanford players had put all thoughts of their 87-60 loss to Connecticut last year in the national semifinals out of their heads.

“From the beginning of the season, we knew we’d have to find a way to survive and hold onto wins,” Wideman said. “That’s been our identity this year.”

Auburn came away from its second loss to Stanford this season with a lot of respect for the Cardinal.

Tiger Coach Joe Ciampi thinks it will be an even game.

“It’ll be a good matchup because Wideman is an outstanding player,” Ciampi said.