Kate PayeKate Paye
Thien-An Truong/ISI Photos
Women's Basketball

New Chapter For Women's Basketball Begins Monday Against Le Moyne

Stanford is 38-12 all-time in season openers and has won six in a row

THE GAME: The first season of a new chapter for Stanford women’s basketball begins on Monday, Nov. 4 when the Cardinal hosts Le Moyne at 7 p.m. Tim Swartz and Joaquin Wallace have the call on ACCNX, while Kevin Danna will handle the radio broadcast on on GoStanford.com, the Stanford Athletics app and Learfield’s Varsity Network.

THE RUNDOWN: Stanford is 38-12 all-time in season openers and has won six in a row ... The Cardinal has won 25 consecutive home openers ... Monday’s game will be the first for Kate Paye as Stanford’s Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball ... A two-time WBCA Assistant Coach of the Year during 17 seasons on Tara VanDerveer’s staff, Paye was hired to lead her alma mater on April 16 ... Heading in 2024-25, Stanford must replace 59.8 percent of its scoring, 54.4 percent of its rebounding and 42.8 percent of its minutes played from a season ago ... The Cardinal’s leading returning scorer is Elena Bosgana (6.7) and its leading returning rebounder is Brooke Demetre (3.6) ... Nunu Agara had game highs of 25 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Stanford to a 91-70 exhibition victory over Cal State LA last Wednesday night ...  In last year’s season-opening win over Hawaii, Agara’s 18 points were the most scored by a Stanford freshman in a season opener since Candice Wiggins had 24 in a 63-57 win at Utah on Nov. 19, 2004 ... The Cardinal was picked seventh in the ACC preseason poll and is outside the preseason AP Top 25 for the first time since 1999-2000 ... On Sunday, Nov. 10 against Gonzaga, Stanford will host a public celebration and official unveiling of Tara VanDerveer Court.

VS. LE MOYNE: Monday’s opener will be Stanford’s first against Le Moyne. Last season, the Cardinal beat a pair of first-time opponents in UAlbany, 79-35 on Nov. 26, and Norfolk State, 79-50 on March 22. Over the past 20 years, Stanford has faced a Northeast Conference opponent twice - beating Sacred Heart in the NCAA Tournaent on March 17, 2023, 92-49, and LIU Brooklyn on Nov. 19, 2005, 69-28. Le Moyne is in its second season of Division I reclassification, going 14-2 in the NEC last year and earning a WNIT berth as the league’s automatic qualifier.

SNAPSHOT »

  • Stanford returns two starters and nine letterwinners to a team that posted a 30-6 overall record a season ago and won its 27th conference championship with a 15-3 mark in the Pac-12.
  • The Cardinal made its 36th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance, advancing to its 29th Sweet 16.
  • Stanford finished the season ranked No. 9 in the final AP Top 25.
  • Stanford has won at least 20 games for 23 straight seasons and has had double-digit conference victories for 37 consecutive years. Its 23-season streak with 20+ wins is the third-longest active stretch in the nation behind Connecticut (31) and Baylor (24).
  • Heading in 2024-25, Stanford must replace 59.8 percent of its scoring, 54.4 percent of its rebounding and 42.8 percent of its minutes played from a season ago.
  • Gone are its top three scorers in Cameron Brink (17.4), Kiki Iriafen (19.4) and Hannah Jump (10.6). Brink went No. 2 to the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Iriafen graduated from Stanford in three years and transferred home to USC, and after five years on The Farm, Jump is in camp with Great Britain Basketball for EuroBasket qualifiers.
  • The Cardinal’s leading returning scorer is Elena Bosgana (6.7) and its leading returning rebounder is Brooke Demetre (3.6).

SEASON OPENERS »

  • Stanford is 38-12 all-time in season openers and has won six in a row. The Cardinal’s last such loss came at No. 5 Ohio State on Nov. 10, 2017, 85-64.
  • The Cardinal has won 25 consecutive home openers. Stanford hasn’t dropped its first game of a season in Maples since falling to No. 24 Illinois, 76-58, on Nov. 19, 1998.
  • In last year’s season-opening win over Hawaii, Nunu Agara’s 18 points were the most scored by a Stanford freshman in a season opener since Candice Wiggins had 24 in a 63-57 win at Utah on Nov. 19, 2004.
  • Agara also made a game-high eight free throws on the night and Stanford was 19-of-20 (.950) at the line, its best performance with at least 20 attempts since going 25-of-26 (.962) in a 71-65 win over Purdue on Nov. 29, 2015. The Cardinal would again go 19-of-20 later in the year in a 96-64 win at Arizona on Jan. 28.
  • Stanford was a school-record +42 on the glass (60-18) against Hawaii. The previous program mark was +39 (67-28) at Fresno State on Dec. 4, 2011.

NEW CHAPTER »

  • A two-time WBCA Assistant Coach of the Year during 17 seasons on Tara VanDerveer’s staff, first-year head coach Kate Paye will lead Stanford into its inaugural ACC campaign after being hired to lead her alma mater on April 16.
  • The 50-year-old Paye has been part of two of Stanford’s three national championships – as a player on the 1992 team and an associate head coach for the 2021 squad.
  • Since Paye’s return to Stanford in 2007-08, the Cardinal has gone 527-87 (.858) and won the 2021 national championship, advancing to two other title games, nine total Final Fours and the Sweet Sixteen all but one year.
  • Paye was a four-year member of the Stanford women’s basketball team that claimed the national championship in 1992 and advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1995.
  • Born at Stanford hospital, Paye earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford in 1995. She also graduated with distinction with both her Juris Doctorate and master’s degree in business administration from Stanford in 2003.

A LEGEND RETIRES »

  • The all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball, Tara VanDerveer announced her retirement on April 9, 2024.
  • In 45 years as a head coach at Idaho (1978-80), Ohio State (1980-85) and Stanford (1985-95, 1996-2024), VanDerveer amassed an NCAA-record 1,216 victories. In 38 seasons at Stanford, she led the Cardinal to three NCAA championships – 1990, 1992 and 2021 – and 14 Final Fours. Her teams won 20 or more games 39 times (an NCAA college basketball record), including each of her final 23 seasons, and collected at least 30 victories 18 times.
  • Since being hired to lead Stanford in May 1985, Tara VanDerveer had been on the bench for 1,284 of the Cardinal’s 1,316 games during that span. While away coach the U.S. Women’s National Team to a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Games, Amy Tucker and Marianne Stanley led Stanford to a 29-3 record, a Pac-10 championship and Final Four appearance.

TARA VANDERVEER COURT

  • In a move that underscores the indelible mark she left on the university and college athletics, Stanford Athletics announced in early May that the court at Maples Pavilion, on which her women’s basketball teams won 531 games, would be named in honor of the recently-retired, NCAA’s all-time winningest coach.
  • The public celebration and official unveiling of Tara VanDerveer Court will occur at Stanford’s home game against Gonzaga on Sunday, Nov. 10. Tipoff is scheduled for noon PT on ESPN2.