Crowd of 10,809 Sees ABL’s Azzi Handle Starbird

The American Basketball League conducted a Stanford women’s basketball alumni night at San Jose Arena Wednesday night, and the West Coast’s biggest ABL crowd, 10,809, watched the oldest Stanford grad on the floor, Jennifer Azzi, take a hotshot Cardinal rookie, Kate Starbird, back to school.

With the 29-year-old Azzi leading the charge, the deep, talented San Jose Lasers broke open a tight game in the third quarter and upended the Seattle Reign and its 22-year-old rookie, 90-70.

The 5-foot-9 Azzi ran San Jose’s offense and guarded the speedy Starbird effectively in a league opener for both teams.

Seven former Stanford players played, four for Seattle.

Starbird had eight points in 37 minutes, on a three-for-11 shooting night. Four of her teammates outscored her.

The crowd was the ABL’s third-largest, including last season.

It also seemed like a San Francisco 49er reunion. At courtside: Jerry Rice, Merton Hanks, Ronnie Lott and R.C. Owens.

Starbird made defensive contributions Wednesday in her pro debut, but she learned quickly that the speed she used to great effectiveness in the college game will be defensed better in the pros. Her days of going coast-to-coast with the ball for layups or pull-up jump shots may be over, she acknowledged afterward.

“My full court game is going to be a lot tougher at this level, that’s true--especially when someone like Jennifer Azzi is guarding me,” she said. “I’ll have to start looking for new weapons.

“The pro game was what I expected, in terms of the excitement level, the level of basketball . . . I’m disappointed I couldn’t play better.”

Everywhere she looked, Starbird saw ex-teammates. Mostly it was the tenacious Azzi, but also sometimes it was Val Whiting, Christy Hedgpeth or Kate Paye guarding her.

Starbird made her first shot, a three-pointer from the corner, but it didn’t come until 1:38 remained in the first quarter. And at that, it took Azzi to be out of position, caught under the basket on an errant steal attempt.

Starbird, playing all but one minute of the first half, finished the first half with three blocked shots to go with her five points.

The Lasers, who play the Long Beach StingRays at the Pyramid Friday night in the StingRays opener, were led by second-year pro Sheri Sam, who had 23.

Notes

The Nov. 29 Tennessee-Stanford women’s game has been moved from Stanford’s 7,500-seat Maples Pavilion to the 18,000-seat San Jose Arena. It’s a 12:30 p.m. game, with the Lasers playing Seattle that night. . . . The start of Wednesday’s game, scheduled for a 7:35 p.m. tip-off, was delayed 15 minutes to accommodate long ticket lines outside.