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Women's Hoops to Host CaliforniaStanford is 8-1 in the Pac-10.Feb. 2, 1998
2/6 vs. California (5-14, 1-8 Pac-10) This Week's Match-Up: Stanford (12-5, 8-1 Pac-10) looks to add to its six game winning streak this week as the Cardinal hosts California (5-14, 1-8 Pac-10) on Friday, February 6 at 7:30 pm. Stanford will also unveil the logo for the 1999 Women's Final Four, which Stanford hosts in cooperation with the San Jose Sports Authority at the San Jose Arena. There is a press conference at 6:00 pm in Maples, followed by an on-court unveiling ceremony prior to the game. The Cardinal has won nine of its last 10 games and is in first place in the Pac-10 race, half way through the conference season. Last week, Stanford recorded its second top-25 victory on the road this season when the Cardinal topped Texas Tech, 80-71, in Lubbock at the Pac-10/Big 12 Challenge. Stanford also defeated Arizona State, 81-54, in Tempe. Stanford in the Rankings: Stanford is ranked 6th in the Associated Press Poll and 12th in last week's 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. TV & Radio: The Stanford-Cal game will air live on Fox Sports Bay Area with Brian Webber and Heather Cox 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 is in her 12th season At Stanford after leading the 1996-97 team to a third consecutive Final Four appearance. At Stanford, VanDerveer owns a 297-69 (.811) overall record and a 160-22 (.879) Pac-10 mark. In her 18 years of collegiate coaching, VanDerveer has accumulated an impressive 449-120 (.789) 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.
Stanford Tentative Starters
PPG RPG APG
G #20 Milena Flores 9.2 2.9 6.0
G #15 Regan Freuen 4.7 1.1 0.7
F #13 Vanessa Nygaard 14.1 6.4 1.7
F #0 Olympia Scott 18.1 7.7 1.7
C #44 Heather Owen 10.2 4.8 0.7
Injury Report: Against Texas Tech, Kristin Folkl suffered a laceration to her right pinky finger. 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. Last Week in Review: Stanford defeated Arizona State, 81-54, on Thursday behind a 17 point performance from Olympia Scott and a double-double by Kristin Folkl with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The story of the game was junior Regan Freuen, in just her fourth career start she posted a career high 14 points in 26 minutes, going 5-7 from the field and 2-3 from behind the arc. All 14 points were scored in the first half. The Cardinal then traveled to Lubbock, TX to face the fifth-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders. Stanford came out on the winning end of the game with an 80-71 decision behind double-doubles by Kristin Folkl (20 pts. 13 reb.) and Olympia Scott (18 pts., 10 reb.). In the game, Stanford trailed at halftime, 36-30, the first time this year that the Cardinal had not led at the halfway point. Heather Owen and Milena Flores also scored in double figures with 10 and 15 points, respectively. Scouting Report - California: The California Golden Bears bring a 5-14 overall mark and a 1-8 conference record into the game on Friday. Cal has lost seven straight, including a 72-52 defeat by Stanford on January 9. Cal is led by Masa Radovic, who is averaging 11.3 ppg and 3.1 rpg. Jennie Leander leads the team in rebounding with 6.7 rpg. Stanford leads the all-time series with Cal, 27-14, including the win earlier this season. Cal is the host of this season's West Regionals for women's basketball at the New Arena in Oakland. Further information and credential requests will be available at Friday's game. In a Row: 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 team 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 14.1 ppg, shooting .477 from the field. Additionally, she is .435 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 1132 points, 18th all-time for Stanford players. Already Nygaard has set a new Stanford record for 3-Pt. Attempts in a career, now with 480. The record was previously held by Kate Starbird with 457. Additionally, Nygaard is second on the 3-Pt. FG Made in a career list with 182. She moved into second place with her 2-2 performace at ASU and needs 10 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. Last weekend, in the games combined, Scott scored 35 points and had 16 rebounds, including the double-double against Texas Tech with 18 points and 10 rebounds and was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second time this season for her efforts. Scott is averaging 7.7 rpg, good for second on the team and is third in the conference. With 18.1 ppg, Scott is second on the team and fourth in the conference. She is shooting .590 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 1359 career points, Scott ranks 13th on Stanford's all-time list. In other Stanford categories, Scott has already jumped nine spots in rebounding this season, now with 680 career rebounds, fifth 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. Over the weekend, Folkl posted two double-doubles with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Arizona State and 20 points and 13 rebounds at Texas Tech. In the week before, she set career highs in points twice with 22 points against Washington State and 36 points against Washington. For her efforts against the Washington schools, she was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the first time in her basketball career. Folkl is averaging 18.8 ppg and 9.6 rpg, both tops on the team. This season, she has seven double-doubles (Oregon State, California, Arizona, UCLA, Arizona St and Texas Tech). 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. Most recently, the coombination of Milena Flores at point and Regan Freuen at shooting guard has proved effective. Additionally, sophomores Melody Peterson, Christina Batastini and Yvonne Gbalazeh are in the mix at guard. Peterson had started several games at the two position, however, Freuen moved into the starting role with consistent play, including her 14-point career-high performance against Arizona State. On the season, Freuen is shooting .521 from the field and .500 from behind the arc. Flores leads the conference in assists with a 6.0 apg average and is shooting .458 from the field. Red Hot: Senior Heather Owen is having her best season yet. Currently, she is shooting .542 from the field, averaging 10.2 points per game. In the three years prior to this season, she shot .489 from the field and averaged just 5.6 ppg. She is one of just three players to play and start in all 17 Stanford games this year. Owen had her best game of the season with a 21-point performance against UConn.
Pac-10 Conference Standings
(2/2/98)
Conference Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
Stanford 8 1 .889 12 5 .706
Arizona 7 2 .778 14 4 .778
UCLA 7 2 .778 12 6 .667
Oregon 7 2 .778 11 6 .647
Washington 4 5 .555 13 5 .722
Arizona State 4 5 .444 8 10 .444
Washington State 3 6 .333 9 9 .500
USC 3 6 .333 8 10 .444
Oregon State 1 8 .111 6 12 .333
California 1 8 .111 5 14 .263
Please Join Us for the Official Unveiling of the Friday, February 6, 1998
Media Function
Pregame 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.
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