Stanford University's Official Athletic Site - Women's Basketball

Stanford Travels to Arizona St. and Texas Tech

Cardinal go in with four game winning streak

<!justin>

Jan. 27, 1998

1997-98 STANFORD  WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
1/29 at Arizona State (7-9, 3-4 Pac-10)
1/31 at #5 Texas Tech (13-3, 6-1 Big 12)

This Week: Stanford (10-5, 7-1 Pac-10) has won four consecutive games leading up to this weekend's games at Arizona State (7-9, 3-4 Pac-10) and a non-conference match-up at No. 5 Texas Tech (13-3, 6-1 Big 12) in Lubbock at the Big 12/Pac-10 Challenge. The Cardinal won four consecutive games earlier this season before losing at Arizona on January 12. In the last four games, Stanford has won by an average of 24 points, which is also the average margin of victory for all 10 wins this season. Texas Tech is the eighth top-25 team the Cardinal has faced this year. Stanford has a 3-4 record against top-25 teams this season, with all three wins coming in Maples Pavilion.

Stanford in the Rankings: Stanford is ranked 9th in the Associated Press Poll and 12th in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. The Cardinal has been ranked in the AP Top 25 every week since the beginning of the 1987-88 season. Texas Tech is ranked 5th in both the AP Poll and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.

TV & Radio: Both games this weekend will be televised. Arizona State will air on Cox Sports in Arizona only. Both games at the Big 12/Pac-10 Challenge will air on ESPN2 with Beth Mowins and Nancy Lieberman-Cline handling the call. All Stanford games air live on KBPA 1220 AM and KZSU 90.1 FM. Dave Flemming handles the play-by-play duties, while Ray Salloom provides the color. Additionally, all Cardinal radio broadcasts can be heard on the world wide web via AudioNet. Inside Stanford Basketball with Tara VanDerveer can be heard on Monday nights on KBPA 1220 AM at 9:00 pm, with host Dave Flemming.

Head Coach Tara VanDerveer: Head Coach Tara VanDerveer returns to The Farm for a 12th season after leading the 1996-97 team to a third consecutive Final Four appearance. At Stanford, VanDerveer owns a 295-69 (.810) overall record and a 159-22 (.878) Pac-10 mark. In her 18 years of collegiate coaching, VanDerveer has accumulated an impressive 447-120 (.788) record. Three times each VanDerveer has collected National Coach of the Year and District Coach of the Year honors. VanDerveer was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career last season.

Injury Report: The Cardinal will be without Naomi Mulitauaopele for the rest of the 1997-98 season. She had off-season surgery on her right patellar tendon that has not fully healed. On Tuesday, January 20, she had surgery to repair the area of her right infrapatellar tendon that has not healed from the summer surgery. She does have a redshirt season available to use, but she is exploring the options of using her redshirt season or playing professionally after graduating in June.

                        PPG     RPG     APG
G   #20 Milena Flores   9.3     2.9     6.2
G   #4  Melody Peterson 9.0     3.1     3.4
F   #13 Vanessa Nygaard 14.7    6.9     1.5
F   #0  Olympia Scott   18.1    7.6     1.7
C   #44 Heather Owen    10.3    5.0     0.7

Scouting Report - Arizona State: The Arizona State Sun Devils are 7-9 overall and 3-4 in the Pac-10, good for a tie for fith place with Washington and Washington State. The Sun Devils split games last weekend in Oregon, defeating OSU 85-79, while falling to Oregon, 100-61. ASU is led by Stephanie Freeman, who is averaging 13.9 ppg and 4.1 rpg. Rachel Holt heads up the team on the boards with 5.1 rpg. The ASU team is first in the conference in free throw percentage, shooting .708 on the season and .760 in Pac-10 games. Charli Turner Thorne is in her second season at Arizona State. Previously, she was the head coach at Northern Arizona for three seasons. After playing for Stanford for four seasons, she was a graduate assistant for Washington for two years and then served as assistant coach at Santa Clara for three seasons. The Cardinal leads the all-time series with Arizona State, 24-7, and Stanford has won 10 consecutive games.

Scouting Report - Texas Tech: The Texas Tech Lady Raiders bring a 13-3 overall record and a No. 5 ranking into this week's non-conference matchup with the Cardinal. The Lady Raiders play at Oklahoma State on Wednesday, January 28 before the game with Stanford on Saturday in Lubbock. Last week, the Lady Raiders defeated Kansas (Arizona's opponent in the Big 12/Pac-10 Challenge), 72-56, in Lubbock. Texas Tech is led by preseason Naismith candidate Alicia Thompson, who is averaging 22 ppg and 8.6 rpg, both tops on the team. Marsha Sharp is in her 16th season at the helm of the Lady Raiders program. Not only is Sharp the head coach, but in 1995, she was namend an Associate Athletic Director for Sports Progam and Senior Women's Administrator. Although Stanford holds the all-time series lead with a 5-2 mark, including last year's postseason Cardinal victory, Stanford has never won in Lubbock. The two losses were in 1993-94 and 1995-96. On March 18, 1997 Texas Tech came to Stanford for the subregionals of the NCAA Tournament. Stanford's 67-45 victory gave the Cardinal a berth into the Sweet 16. In that game, Thompson led the Lady Raiders with 24 points on 10-26 shooting, while Olympia Scott headed up the Stanford effort with 19 points and nine rebounds.

The Streaks: Although Stanford's "NCAA Home Court Winning Streak" was snapped by Tennessee in November at the San Jose Arena, the Cardinal still holds a 54-game winning streak in Maples Pavilion, dating back to the final game of the 1993-94 season against Purdue. On January 12, 1998, Arizona ended Stanford's 48-game conference winning, which dated back to Feb. 9, 1995 when the Cardinal lost at Oregon State. Stanford has won 60 consecutive Pac-10 games at Maples Pavilion. Since the first season of Pac-10 women's basketball in 1986-87, the Cardinal has finished nothing less than sixth and that was in the first conference season. Stanford has captured eight Pac-10 titles and was picked at the start of the season by the media to earn a repeat title this season. Additionally, the Cardinal leads the all-time series with every Pac-10 team.

From the Stripe: Not only is Vanessa Nygaard a top outside shooter, but she has come up big this season from the free throw line. Currently, Nygaard is shooting .821 (32-39) from the line, good for the conference lead, including her 9-10 performance at UCLA. Last season, for all 31 games she played in, Nygaard shot .750 (45-60) from the line. Nygaard is averaging 14.7 ppg, shooting .475 from the field. Additionally, she is .419 for three-pointers. Nygaard tied her season-high 24 points against Illinois with the help of a 4-6 3-point performance. Nygaard also scored 24 points in the season-opener at Wisconsin. This year, Nygaard posted her 1,000 career point against Connecticut, now with a total of 1112 points, 18th all-time for Stanford players. Already Nygaard has set a new Stanford record for 3-Pt. Attempts in a career, now with 474. The record was previously held by Kate Starbird with 457. Additionally, Nygaard is fourth on the 3-Pt. FG Made in a career list with 178. She is tied with Molly Goodenbour in third and needs 14 more to move into first place ahead of Jennifer Azzi.

"O"ffense: Senior co-captain Olympia Scott continues to be a big contributor both in scoring and on the boards. In the opening weekend of Pac-10 play, against Oregon State and Oregon, she combined for 43 points and 24 rebounds, including a career high 16 rebounds against Oregon. Scott is averaging 7.6 rpg, good for second on the team and is fourth in the conference. With 18.1 ppg, Scott is second on the team and fourth in the conference. She is shooting .589 from the field, second best in the Pac-10 and on the team. Against Colorado, Scott set a new career high for points for the second time this season. Her previous career high was 31 points scored against USF, but her 33 points against Colorado set a new best. Scott was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the first time in her career for her efforts against the Illini in December. With 1324 career points, Scott ranks 13th on Stanford's all-time list. In other Stanford categories, Scott has already jumped eight spots in rebounding this season, now with 664 career rebounds, sixth in Stanford history. Val Whiting heads up the all-time list with 1134 rebounds. Scott is a top-ten preseason Naismith candidate, as well as a preseason All-American by Street & Smith's and Athlon. Last season, Scott was an AP All-America Honorable Mention and a First-Team All-Pac-10 player.

Folkl Point: Junior Kristin Folkl, who rejoined the Stanford basketball team on December 26th after leading the women's volleyball team to a second consecutive NCAA Championship on December 20, has made an immediate impact on the team and opponents. Last weekend against the Washington schools, Folkl twice set career highs in points. On Thursday, she tallied 22 points (one better than her career high), shooting 9 of 10 from the field and grabbing six rebounds against Washington State. On Saturday, against Washington, she posted 36 points, fifth on Stanford's all-time list, shooting 14 of 18 from the field and recording seven rebounds. For her efforts against the Washington schools, she was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the first time in her career for basketball. Folkl is averaging 19.7 ppg and 9.0 rpg, both tops on the team. This season, she has four double-doubles [Oregon State (12 pts., 10 reb.), California (16 pts., 13 reb.), Arizona (21 pts., 10 reb.), and UCLA (20 pts., 15 reb.)]. The 15 rebounds she posted at UCLA set a new career high as well. Folkl is a top-ten preseason Naismith candidate along with teammate Olympia Scott.

Back Court Combos: The Cardinal has faced replacing the back court combination of Jamila Wideman and Kate Starbird this season and Stanford is still looking for just the right one. So far, the Cardinal has started four players in the two positions, with the duo of sophomores Milena Flores and Melody Peterson leading the way. Combined, these two are averaging 18.3 ppg and grabbing 6.0 rpg. Additionally, Flores and Peterson are combining for an average of 9.6 apg, getting the ball inside to the primary four post players, who are averaging 62.8 ppg together. Junior Regan Freuen, who started her third game of the season against Washington, is shooting .500 (19-38) from the field including .500 (11-22) from behind the arc. Sophomore Christinia Batastini is also seeing time in the back court, averaging 11.6 minutes per game. Batastini is shooting .640 (16-25) from the line and averaging 3.5 ppg.

Associated Press Poll (1/25/98)

Rnk.School                  Pvs.
1.  Tennessee (39)          1
2.  Connecticut             3
3.  Old Dominion            2
4.  Louisiana Tech          4
5.  Texas Tech              5
T6. North Carolina          11
T6. Vanderbilt              9
8.  Illinois                6
9.  Stanford                13
10. Arizona                 7
11. Utah                    14
12. No. Carolina State      8
13. Duke                    24
14. Florida                 10
15. Western Kentucky        16
16. Virginia                11
17. Georgia                 18
18. Washington              15
19. Florida International   22
20. Wisconsin               17
21. Clemson                 19
22. Stephen F. Austin       25
23. Hawaii                  NR
24. Iowa State              NR
25. SW Missouri State       20

(1/25/98)
Rnk.School                  Pvs.
1.  Tennessee (60)          1
2.  Connecticut             2
3.  Old Dominion            3
4.  Louisiana Tech          4
5.  Texas Tech              5
6.  Vanderbilt              8
7.  North Carolina          11
8.  Illinois                6
T9. No. Carolina State      7
T9. Utah                    13
11. Arizona                 9
12. Stanford                14
13. Virginia                10
14. Florida                 12
15. Duke                    23
16. Western Kentucky        17
17. Georgia                 18
18. Wisconsin               15
19. Washington              16
20. Florida International   20
21. Hawaii                  25
22. Clemson                 22
23. Nebraska                19
24. SW Missouri State       21
25. Stephen F. Austin       NR

(1/26/98)
                Conference      Overall
                W   L   Pct.    W   L   Pct.
Stanford        7   1   .875    10  5   .667
Arizona         6   2   .750    12  4   .750
Oregon          6   2   .750    10  6   .625
UCLA            5   2   .714    10  6   .625
Washington      3   4   .429    12  4   .750
Washington St.  3   4   .429    9   7   .563
Arizona St.     3   4   .429    7   9   .438
USC             2   5   .286    7   9   .438
California      1   6   .143    5   12  .294
Oregon State    1   7   .125    6   11  .353

Please Join Us for the Official Unveiling of the 1999 NCAA Women's Final Four Logo

Honorary Chair of the Local Organizing Committee and San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer, Executive Chair Cheryl Levick and Executive Director Danette Macri will be available at the media function to provide information on the Final Four and answer questions. Additionally, Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer and Cal Head Coach Marianne Stanley will be involved in the on-court logo unveiling prior to the game.

The 1999 NCAA Women's Final Four is hosted by Stanford University in cooperation with the San Jose Sports Authority at the San Jose Arena.

Please contact Beth Goode in the Media Relations Office at (650) 725-2959 with any questions regarding this event.