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Dec. 30, 1997
Stanford Opens Pac-10 Season
1/2 vs. Oregon State (5-4) 1/4 vs. Oregon (4-3)
This Week: Stanford (3-4) looks to build on Sunday's 87-73 victory over Colorado as the team heads into the Pac-10 season with home games against Oregon State and Oregon on Friday and Sunday. Oregon State comes into the weekend with a 5-4 record and has not played a game since December 19, when they lost at St. Joseph's, 69-53. Oregon, 4-3 on the season, hosts Kansas on December 29, before making the trip to the Bay Area.
Stanford in the Rankings: Stanford was ranked 17th in the Associated Press Poll and in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 last week, new rankings will be available on Tuesday. The Cardinal has been ranked in the AP Top 25 every week since the beginning of the 1987-88 season. Neither Oregon or Oregon State are ranked in the Top 25.
TV & Radio: The Stanford-Oregon game will air live nationally on CBS at 1:00 pm (PST). Beth Mowins and Doris Burke will handle the call for the game. The Oregon State game will be carried by Cable Co-op on a tape delayed basis. 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.
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 288-68 (.809) overall record and a 152-21 (.879) Pac-10 mark. In her 18 years of collegiate coaching, VanDerveer has accumulated an impressive 440-119 (.787) 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.
Roster Report: The Cardinal is still without Naomi Mulitauaopele. She had off-season surgery on her right knee and is still in rehab. Currently, she is listed week-to-week. Freshman Karesa Granderson has an injury to her right foot and is out of action for about 3-4 weeks.
Scouting Report - Oregon State: The Beavers head to Maples Pavilion with a 5-4 season mark after a long break. The last game for OSU was on December 19 at St. Joseph's, where they lost a 69-53 game. This season, sophomore Sissel Pierce leads the Beavers with 12.2 ppg and 8.0 rpg averages, both tops on the team. Senior Monica Watts has added 10.4 ppg and 6.4 rpg. This season, the Beavers are 1-4 on the road with the only road victory coming at Seton Hall on December 14. Head coach Judy Spoelstra is in her third season at Oregon State with a 133-98 career record (35-30 at OSU, 98-68 at Montana State). Stanford leads the all-time series with Oregon State, 18-5. The last time the Cardinal lost to OSU was in 1994-95 when Stanford fell 78-73 in Eugene. Oregon State has never won a game at Maples Pavilion in 11 meetings there.
Scouting Report - Oregon: The Oregon Ducks are 4-3 on the season, prior to a game against Kansas on December 29. Senior Natalie Hughes leads the Ducks with a 16.0 ppg average. Sophomore Jenny Mowe is the team's leading rebounder with 7.0 rpg. Mowe has not played in the last two Oregon games due to a knee injury. She is expected to play this weekend against the Cardinal. Jody Runge is in her fifth season at the helm of the Oregon program. In each of her four seasons, the Ducks have earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament and finished nothing less than fourth in the Pac-10, with a second place finish last season behind the Cardinal. Stanford leads the all-time series with Oregon 20-3, with the Ducks winning the first three meetings ever between the two teams.
Pac-10 Dominance: Stanford teams have dominated the Pac-10 for the last few years. Stanford begins the Pac-10 season with a 45-game conference winning streak, dating back to Feb. 9, 1995 when the Cardinal lost at Oregon State. Stanford has also won 56 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.
Inside and Outside: Vanessa Nygaard, in her fifth-year at Stanford, is among the strong post players for the Cardinal. Nygaard is averaging 17.3 ppg and 7.7 rpg, good for second on the team in both categories. From the field, Nygaard is shooting .494 (43-87) and is .439 (18-41) from behind the arc. She is one of the team's most consistent free-throw shooters, going 17-20 (.850) from the line. 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 season, Nygaard has moved into fourth on Stanford's all-time 3-Pt. FG Made list, now with a total of 160. She needs just 31 more to tie leader Jennifer Azzi with 191 in her career.
"O"ffense: Senior co-captain Olympia Scott continues to be a big contributor both in scoring and on the boards. Scott is averaging 7.6 rpg, good for third on the team and leads the Cardinal with 19.7 ppg. On Sunday, 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 1190 career points, Scott ranks 15th on Stanford's all-time list and is just 70 points away from passing Julie Zeilstra (1259) in 14th. 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's Return: Junior Kristin Folkl has rejoined the Stanford basketball team after leading the women's volleyball team to a second consecutive NCAA Championship on December 20 , her third in four seasons on The Farm. Folkl has completed her eligibility in volleyball and has one year remaining after this season. After just two practices, Folkl played 24 minutes against Colorado, scoring 16 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. She also recorded two assists and a block. As a freshman, Folkl joined the basketball team after the volleyball season and played in a total of 25 games, averaging 9.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg. As a sophomore, Folkl left Stanford after the volleyball season to train and compete with the U.S. National Volleyball Team. She was named the first alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team and returned to Stanford last fall to again lead the volleyball team to a national championship. Folkl, although not originally planning on playing basketball last year, did return to the Cardinal squad in February to play a total of 10 games, averaging 10.7 ppg and a team-leading 8.2 rpg.
Home Sweet Home: The Cardinal has played just two games in Maples Pavilion this season, defeating USF 101-54 just before Thanksgiving and Colorado last week. Of Stanford's seven games this season, the Cardinal have played five top-25 teams, one of which was played in Maples Pavilion. The Stanford-Tennessee game was played at the San Jose Arena. The Cardinal is riding a 50-game Maples Pavilion winning streak.