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TAMPA, Fla. – Walking off the basketball court at the St. Pete Times Forum late Sunday night, all Angie Bjorklund could say was, "I can't even believe."
The two teams competing in tonight's title game in the Spokane Region of the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship are probably starting to think the host city is a popular hangout for movie and television celebrities.
On the first day of practice, Stanford sophomore Jayne Appel found a note taped to her locker.
Kristi Toliver, like many of her experienced teammates on the Maryland women's basketball team, has packed a lot into the last three years.
Two teams hoping to rebound from disappointing endings to the 2007 season will have to rebound to keep that from happening again.
For those who didn't know, there's more to the Stanford women's basketball team than John Wooden Award candidate Candice Wiggins.
Vanderbilt may have been trying to make like the Maryland of old – a young, fearless, nothing-to-lose underdog winner in the NCAA women's basketball tournament – but it's tough to copy the original.
Heidi VanDerveer's father once told her that the game of basketball would take her nowhere. "He was usually right, but not that time," said VanDerveer, the former head women's basketball coach at Eastern Washington University, who is back in town this week with the Stanford University team that is competing in the semifinals of the 2008 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship's Spokane Region at the Arena.
Maryland's Marah Strickland sometimes feels overlooked on the basketball court – and she doesn't mind one bit.
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The number of games – including Saturday night's 80-66 win over Vanderbilt – the Maryland Terrapins have won this season by double digits.
Great basketball player? Check.Great teammate? Check.Great student? Check.
When Maryland basketball coach Brenda Frese gave birth to twin boys last month it made national news and she took a couple of weeks off. "I read where Brenda has a nanny," Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato, a mother of five, said. "I still don't have a cleaning lady. Are you kidding me? I never took maternity leave. I wonder what I was thinking."
Usually a player's number is retired long after a career is over.For Maryland's Crystal Langhorne, it wasn't a matter of if but when.
Offensively frenzied and top-seeded Maryland is braced to meet its polar opposite.While Maryland will be out to force the pace, Vanderbilt will try to apply the brakes with defense when the teams collide tonight in the NCAA tournament Spokane Region Sweet 16 opener at 6.
It was a deep passion for playing defense that got Vanderbilt University this far.Whether the Commodores advance beyond tonight's third-round showdown of the 2008 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament could well be determined by just how much of that passion remains.
Perhaps you don't know much about the Pittsburgh women's basketball team. For comparison's sake, think about the Washington State men's program, because the Panthers have orchestrated a similar turnaround.
Stanford is all about numbers.The Cardinal have been to 22 NCAA women's basketball tournaments, including the last 21.
Former Eastern Washington University men's basketball player Derek Risper is finishing up work on his degree in Cheney, and, one would hope, harboring no expectations of landing a job with the Spokane Chamber of Commerce.
Guards
Junior Kristi Toliver is one of the best in country, a clutch shooter who averages 16.8 points to go with 7.5 assists. Considered somewhat inconsistent her first two seasons, she'll have to be at her best against a tough Vanderbilt zone defense that has kept its first two opponents to less than 50 points per game. Marah Strickland, a 6-foot freshman, provides the size to see over the zone but as the least-experienced Terrapin she'll have to be steady.
Guards
The Cardinal start three guards, but that includes the multitalented 6-foot All-American Candice Wiggins, who is a matchup problem for anyone. Wiggins, the Pac-10's all-time leading scorer, averages 19.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists. JJ Hones appears completely recovered from a knee injury that cut short her freshman season and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude is steady. The 5-10 sophomores combine for 11 points and 5.3 assists.
Coach: Melanie BalcombSeed: No. 4Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Coach: Brenda FreseSeed: No. 1Location: College Park, Md.
Coach: Agnus BerenatoSeed: No. 6Location: Pittsburgh
Sweet. The four teams at Spokane Arena for the Sweet 16 represent four of the six major conferences: Vanderbilt from the Southeastern, Maryland from the Atlantic Coast, Stanford from the Pacific-10 and Pittsburgh from the Big East. They have combined for 113 wins, and the team that gets two more represents the Spokane Region at the Final Four in Tampa, Fla., next weekend. Fourth-seeded Vanderbilt, making its ninth straight NCAA appearance and 21st overall, takes on top-seeded Maryland, which won the national title in 2006, at 6 p.m. Upstart Pittsburgh, the sixth seed, in its second NCAA tournament and first Sweet 16, has the daunting task of trying to stop second-seeded Stanford, which is trying to capture its third national title in its 21st straight tournament.
When the first NCAA-sanctioned women's basketball tournament reached its Final Four in 1982, two of the coaches were Pat Summitt and C. Vivian Stringer.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Fortunately for Maryland, playing outstanding basketball isn't a prerequisite for entering the round of 16 in the NCAA women's tournament.
With three trips to the Final Four among the memories of her five years as a Stanford basketball player, Regan Freuen Drew's reaction to The Question is understandable.
Of the NCAA-record 3,393 points Jackie Stiles scored in her four-year basketball career at Missouri State, only 73 came in Spokane. Yet that long weekend in the Lilac City remains the highlight of her young life.
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