April 9, 2002
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BANNER SEASON IN THE BOOKS: The 2001-02 season marked a return to national prominence for Stanford Women's Basketball ... The Cardinal racked up an impressive 32-3 overall record, including a perfect 18-0 mark in Pacific-10 Conference play, and advanced to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament ... The 32 wins tied for the second highest total in school single season history ... Stanford also reeled off 22 consecutive victories from Dec. 19-March 3, which tied for the third longest winning streak in school history ... Stanford went 18-0 in the Pac-10 for the fourth time in school history, and the first time since 1996-97 ... The Cardinal captured its 11th Pacific-10 Conference Championship in 16 years, and second in a row, by a six-game margin over both Arizona State and Washington ...Tara VanDerveer's squad, which was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation for the first time in five years, also enjoyed NCAA Tournament success ... The Cardinal, which was seeded second in the West Regional, won first and second round games on its home floor before falling in the regional semifinals ... The "Sweet 16" appearance was Stanford's first since the 1996-97 campaign ... The future also looks bright for the Cardinal, which returns eight letter-winners, including three starters.
NCAA HISTORY: Stanford won NCAA Championships in 1990 and 1992, and also made Final Four appearances in 1991, 1995, 1996 and 1997 ... The Cardinal captured the 1990 NCAA Championship by defeating Auburn 88-81 in Knoxville, Tennessee ... Stanford then won the 1992 crown at the Los Angeles Sports Arena by knocking off Western Kentucky 78-62 in the championship game ... The Cardinal has an all-time post-season record of 36-17 (.679), including a 36-14 (.720) record in NCAA Tournament competition ... The 36 wins ranks Stanford tied for fourth in all-time NCAA Tournament wins with Georgia, and behind only Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and Connecticut ... This year's NCAA Tournament appearance was Stanford's 16th overall, and 15th in a row (tied for the fourth longest active streak in Division I) ... Stanford also made its 11th all-time appearance in the "Sweet 16" this season, and first since 1997.
NCAA TOURNAMENT RECAPS:
First Round - #5/#5 Stanford 76, Weber State 51 (March 16 @ Maples Pavilion): Sophomore Nicole Powell (Phoenix, AZ/Mountain Pointe HS) recorded the fifth triple-double of her career - and fourth this season - as the second-seeded Cardinal rolled to the easy victory ... Powell had 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in 34 minutes of action as the Cardinal won by 25 points or more for the 11th time this season ... Weber State (22-9), which was making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the opening 3:46 thanks to a pair of 3-pointers ... Stanford took over from there ... The Cardinal used a 23-0 first half run (its longest run of the season) to turn a 17-12 deficit at the 13:45 mark into a commanding 35-17 advantage with 5:17 remaining before halftime ... Senior center Cori Enghusen (Bothell, WA/Inglemoor HS) scored 11 of those 23 points en route to a double-double of 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds ... Powell had nine points in the decisive spurt, and finished the first half with 16 points, six assists and six rebounds ... The Cardinal led 41-29 at the half, and broke the game wide open with a 16-3 run midway through the second half that gave it a 71-42 advantage with 6:19 to play.
Second Round - #5/#5 Stanford 77, Tulane 55 (March 18 @ Maples Pavilion): Sophomore Nicole Powell made it back-to-back triple-doubles with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the easy second round victory over Tulane (24-11) ... Powell now owns six of the 12 triple-doubles in the 16-year history of the Pacific-10 Conference and six of the eight in the 28-year history of Stanford Women's Basketball ... The Cardinal pulled away early to lock up its first trip to the "Sweet 16" in five years ... Stanford used an 18-4 run midway through the first half, keyed by five points from Powell and four from Lindsey Yamasaki (Oregon City, OR/Oregon City HS), to take a commanding 35-18 advantage 3:38 before the break ... The Cardinal led 40-24 at the half, thanks to 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists from Powell ... After the teams traded 3-pointers to open the second half, Stanford went on a 9-2 run to go up 52-29 with 16:49 remaining ... The Green Wave could get no closer than 18 points (52-34) the rest of the way ... Yamasaki, who was playing in just her second game since having her appendix removed on Feb. 26, scored a game-high 24 points in 28 minutes of action ... Senior center Bethany Donaphin (New York, NY/Horace Mann HS) added 21 points (just one shy of her season-high), including 10-of-11 shooting from the floor, and eight rebounds in 29 minutes ... The Cardinal shot 50.8 (32-of-63) percent from the floor, compared to just 30.9 (21-of-68) percent for the Green Wave.
West Regional Semifinals - #12/#12 Colorado 62, #5/#5 Stanford 59 (March 23 @ Boise State Pavilion): In a game that featured 15 lead changes and 13 ties, third-seeded Colorado (24-9) made a pair of crucial baskets down the stretch to eliminate second-seeded Stanford ... Elisha Bohman gave Colorado the lead for good at 58-56 on a jumper with 2:58 remaining, and extended the lead to four on a lay-up at the 1:54 mark ... The Cardinal answered back, however, on a Nicole Powell 3-pointer that cut the lead to 60-59 with 1:36 to play ... But Stanford would not score again ... Colorado extended the lead to three on a pair of free throws by Randie Wirt with eight seconds remaining ... Stanford had a last second attempt to tie the game, but a 3-point attempt fell short at the buzzer ... Senior Lindsey Yamasaki led the Cardinal with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, while senior Bethany Donaphin and Powell chipped in 13 points apiece ... Donaphin and Powell also made history as both scored their 1,000th career point to become the 23th and 24th Stanford players, respectively, to accomplish the prestigious feat ... The game was close throughout, as neither team led by more than six points ... Stanford jumped out to a 17-11 lead with 9:34 remaining in the first half, but the Buffaloes answered with an 11-2 run to retake the lead at 22-19 ... The score was tied at 27 at the half, but Stanford scored five of the first seven points in the second half to go up 34-29 with 16:22 remaining ... The Buffaloes evened the score at 36 less than two minutes later, and neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.
RANKING REPORT: Stanford finished the 2001-02 campaign ranked fifth in the Associated Press Poll and eighth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll ... The final AP Poll was released after the regular season (March 11), while the final Coaches Poll was released after the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament (April 1) ... The Cardinal's season-ending ranking of No. 5 in the AP Poll was its highest since it finished the 1997 regular season at No. 3 ... Stanford has now been ranked in the top five of the final AP Poll in eight of the last 14 seasons ... The final Coaches Poll ranking of No. 8 was its highest since it was No. 3 in 1997 ... In the 17-year history of the Coaches Poll, Stanford has been ranked in the top 10 at the end of the year on 10 occasions ... The Cardinal began the season ninth in the AP Poll and 10th in the Coaches Poll ... Stanford was one of 14 schools that was ranked in the AP Top 25 all season long, and one of only five that was ranked in the top 10 for the entire campaign ... The Cardinal peaked in both polls at No. 2 from Feb. 4-March 4 ... The No. 2 ranking was Stanford's highest since it was No. 1 for the first six weeks of the 1996-97 season.
POWELL EARNS KODAK ALL-AMERICAN HONORS AFTER SPECTACULAR SOPHOMORE CAMPAIGN: Stanford University sophomore Nicole Powell was named to the prestigious 2002 NCAA Division I Kodak All-America Women's Basketball Team on March 28 ... The 10-player team, which includes six underclassmen, was selected by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association ... The 6-foot-2 guard/forward, who was a finalist for the Naismith Award in addition to being named the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year, averaged a near triple-double of 16.6 points 9.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists for the 32-3 Cardinal ... She recorded five triple-doubles this season, including back-to-back triple-doubles in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament against Weber State and Tulane ... She also led the Pac-10 in both rebounding and assists to become the first player in the history of the conference - male or female - to accomplish that feat both overall or in the same season ... In all, Powell ranked among the top six in the Pac-10 in nine of a possible 12 statistical categories ... Powell also shattered two school rebounding records in 2001-02 - single game (21) and single season (327) - in addition to recording the third highest assist total (220) in school single season history ... Powell is the sixth player in Stanford women's basketball history to earn Kodak All-America honors, and the first to accomplish the feat as a sophomore ... The other five Kodak All-Americans from Stanford are Jennifer Azzi (1989, 1990), Sonja Henning (1991), Val Whiting (1992, 1993), Kate Starbird (1996, 1997) and Kristin Folkl (1998).
YAMASAKI GOES OUT IN STYLE: Senior forward Lindsey Yamasaki saved her best for last in 2001-02 ... The Oregon City, Oregon native was an Honorable Mention Associated Press All-American, in addition to being named to both the Kodak District VIII and Pacific-10 Conference first teams ... She averaged a team-high 17.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists, and scored in double figures in 28 of her 32 outings ... She became the 22nd player in Stanford history to score 1,000 career points in the Nov. 23 win over Minnesota, and eventually finished her career ninth on the school career scoring list with 1,497 points ... She also finished second in Stanford history and tied for fourth in Pac-10 history with 192 career 3-pointers, in addition to ending up 19th on the all-time school rebounding list with 531 ... She was also named the Tournament Most Valuable Player at both the Stanford Invitational and Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic early in the season ... Yamasaki went on to average 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in Pac-10 play and 15.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the NCAA Tournament ... More impressively, Yamasaki turned in those NCAA Tournament numbers despite undergoing an emergency appendectomy just three weeks prior to the post-season.
THE VANDERVEER FILE: Stanford University coach Tara VanDerveer, who will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee on April 26-27, signed a five-year contract extension on Sept. 10 that will keep her on The Farm through March 31, 2007 ... VanDerveer, who has guided the Cardinal to the NCAA Tournament in each of her last 14 seasons, earned her share of honors this year ... She was one of eight finalists for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year Award, and was also a finalist for the Naismith College Women's Basketball Coach of the Year Award ... In addition, she was named the 2002 Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year ... VanDerveer is 548-156 (.778) in 22 seasons on collegiate sidelines, which includes stops at Idaho and Ohio State ... VanDerveer coached the 700th game of her collegiate career in the Pac-10 Tournament Semifinals vs. Oregon State on March 3 ... In 15 seasons on The Farm (VanDerveer took the 1995-96 season off to coach the gold-medal winning United States Olympic Team), she is 396-105 (.790) and has led Stanford to two NCAA Championships (1990 & 1992) and five Final Four appearances ... VanDerveer coached her 500th game at Stanford on March 18 in the Cardinal's NCAA Tournament Second Round win over Tulane ... She has also compiled an impressive 227-43 (.841) Pac-10 record during her tenure ... VanDerveer won her 10th Pacific-10 Conference title, and second in a row, this season in addition to earning her fifth Pac-10 Coach of the Year honor ... In NCAA Tournament competition, VanDerveer has compiled a 32-12 (.727) record in 14 appearances ... In the 1990's alone, VanDerveer was 25-7 (.781) in post-season competition with two NCAA Championships and five Final Four appearances ... She has compiled an 88-8 (.917) international mark with four gold medals and one bronze in seven assignments, including her highly publicized 60-0 (1.000) run with the 1996 United States National/Olympic Team.
SENIOR SALUTE: The 2001-02 Stanford Women's Basketball senior class of Bethany Donaphin, Cori Enghusen, Enjoli Izidor (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS), Lauren St. Clair (Philadelphia, PA/Mount St. Joseph Academy) and Lindsey Yamasaki established an impressive legacy during their collegiate careers ... These five outstanding student-athletes led Stanford to an impressive 90-35 record and .720 winning percentage during their four seasons ... The quintet also led Stanford to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a spot in the "Sweet 16" this season, and two Pacific-10 Conference Championships ... They comprise the 12th consecutive Stanford women's basketball graduating class that has made four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
THE CLASS OF 2006: In November, Stanford Women's Basketball announced the signing of four athletes - Clare Bodensteiner (Rupert, ID/Minico HS), Shelley Nweke (Marietta, GA/Marietta HS), Eziamaka Okafor (Rolla, MO/Rolla HS) and Krista Rappahahn (Lebanon, CT/Norwich Free Academy) - to National Letters-of-Intent beginning with the 2002-03 season ... "I'm very excited about these four signees," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. "This is an excellent class and it will compliment the two great recruiting classes ahead of them. The class has excellent size, athleticism and skill." ... Bodensteiner is a 5-foot-8 guard who averaged 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.4 steals as a junior to lead Minico to its first conference championship in 18 years ... Nweke is a 6-foot-5 center who averaged 12 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots per game in her junior season ... Okafor is a 6-foot-0 forward who was a 2001 Street & Smith's Honorable Mention Preseason All-American ... Rappahahn, a 5-foot-11 guard, was also a 2001 Street & Smith's Honorable Mention Preseason All-American.
NICOLE POWELL, TARA VANDERVEER EARN PAC-10 HONORS: Stanford's Nicole Powell became just the second sophomore to ever win Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year honors when she received the award on Feb. 28 ... Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer also earned her fifth career Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year honor, and first since 1997 ... Powell is the sixth Stanford player to win Pac-10 Player of the Year honors, and first since Kate Starbird in 1997 ... The only other sophomore to win Pac-10 Player of the Year honors was Oregon's Shaquala Williams in 2000 ... Powell, who was named First Team All-Pac-10 for the second consecutive season (only the seventh Stanford player to become a two-time All-Pac-10 selection and first since Milena Flores in 1999 and 2000), was joined on the all-conference squad by senior teammate Lindsey Yamasaki ... The First Team All-Pac-10 honor is the first of Yamasaki's career ... She was an Honorable Mention selection in both 1999 and 2001 ... Stanford earned two spots on the All-Pac-10 First Team for the first time since Vanessa Nygaard and Olympia Scott in 1998 ... The Cardinal has 33 all-time Pac-10 selections to easily outdistance second place Washington's 22 ... Stanford senior center Bethany Donaphin received Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 honors ... VanDerveer led Stanford to a perfect 18-0 Pac-10 record for the third time in her career ... She has guided the Cardinal to 10 Pacific-10 Conference regular season titles, including two in a row ... The Cardinal also landed two of the five spots on the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team ... Stanford was represented on the squad by guard Kelley Suminski (Chester, NJ/Mendham HS) and forward T'Nae Thiel (Weatherford, TX/Weatherford HS) ... Stanford has not had two All-Freshman Team selections since Kristin Folkl and Naomi Mulitauaopele in 1995 ... The Cardinal leads the way with 17 all-time Pac-10 Freshman Team selections, while Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington are tied with eight ... Stanford has not had two First Team All-Conference (Anita Kaplan and Starbird) and two All-Freshman Team selections in the same year since 1995 ... Cardinal guard Sebnem Kimyacioglu (Mountain View, CA/Pinewood School) received Honorable Mention All-Freshman honors.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: The 2001-02 Cardinal left its mark in numerous places in both the conference and school record books .... As a team, this year's squad broke thePac-10 and school single season team records for 3-pointers made (258), 3-pointers attempted (657), blocked shots (196) and lowest field goal percentage allowed (34.6) ...Sophomore Nicole Powell has also shattered the school single season rebound mark with 327 ... The old mark of 310 had been set by Val Whiting in 1990-91 and Jeanne Ruark-Hoff in 1979-80 ... Powell also turned in the third highest single season assist total in school history (220) and the ninth highest single season point total (581) ... Senior Cori Enghusen also left her name in the record book with a school single season record 58 blocked shots ... The old record of 57 was set by Whiting in 1989-90.
BECKY BONNER ELECTS TO TRANSFER: Sophomore Becky Bonner (Concord, NH/Concord HS) has announced her intention to transfer out of Stanford University ... Bonner has yet to determine where she will transfer, but intends to return to the New England area ... The 6-foot-2 forward appeared in 19 games off the bench this season, and averaged 0.4 points and 0.6 rebounds ... She missed the first nine games of the campaign with a stress fracture in her right foot ... As a freshman, Bonner appeared in 22 games off the bench and averaged 1.6 points and 1.0 rebound ... In 41 career games at Stanford, she averaged 1.0 point and 0.8 rebounds.