VanDerveer gets win No. 800, Stanford beats USF

Dec. 22, 2010BOX SCORENCAA SCOREBOARD
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE

SANFRANCISCO (AP) Stanford's Tara VanDerveer became the sixth women'scoach to reach the elite 800 wins mark Wednesday night, doing so in herthird try as the eighth-ranked Cardinal routed San Francisco 100-45 andformer Stanford stars turned coaches Jennifer Azzi and Katy Steding.

KILLION: VanDerveer's 800th uniquely Bay Area's
Kayla Pedersen scored her team'sfirst eight points of the second half on the way to 16 and grabbed acareer-high 20 rebounds to lead Stanford (7-2), which was coming offlosses last Thursday at No. 16 DePaul and then at fifth-rankedTennessee on Sunday.VanDerveer is 800-197 in 32 seasonsas a head coach, 25 of those years at Stanford - where she is 648-146.Azzi embraced the Hall of Fame coach after the final buzzer sounded,then fans and players held up 800 signs reading "Congratulations Tara."Azzi and Steding presented VanDerveer with flowers and the game ball ina ceremony at midcourt."Eight hundred's a lot of games,"VanDerveer said. "It's a little ironic with Jennifer and Katy. It'sapropos it's with them. Jennifer's taken part in a lot of these wins.I'm just a little bit blown away about Jennifer and Katy being here andthe large number."VanDerveer joins fellow 800-gamewinners Pat Summitt of Tennesse, former Texas coach Jody Conradt,Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer, Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina andBarbara Stevens - who won her 800th just this past Sunday for DivisionII Bentley University in Massachusetts.VanDerveer beat a pair of familiarfaces to reach the milestone, facing first-year USF coach and Hall ofFamer Azzi and her associate head coach, Steding. The two women werepart of Stanford's first NCAA title in 1990 and on theVanDerveer-coached 1996 Olympic team that won gold in Atlanta.Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Joslyn Tinkle andSara James all scored 14 points for Stanford, which held the Dons to24.3 percent shooting. The Cardinal played without starting freshmanforward Chiney Ogwumike, who turned her left ankle during the morningshootaround.Kelly Jo Mullaney scored 13 points but the Dons went 11 minutes, 7 seconds without scoring spanning halftime.Azzi, the Pac-10 player of the yearin that 32-1 title run in '90, and Steding received a rousing ovationfrom the Stanford section when introduced. The coaches from both sideschatted before tipoff and planned to catch up over dinner afterward.Azzi didn't schedule this game,which was on the calendar before she was hired in April to take overthe struggling Dons program. Her team is 2-10 - eight of those defeatsblowouts - and lost its seventh straight game. USF dropped its 15th ina row against Stanford in the series dating back to Dec. 15, 1984.VanDerveer's Cardinal, who havereached the Final Four the past three seasons, dropped five spots fromthird in this week's rankings after the two losses.After USF pulled within 23-21 onVania Singleterry's 3-pointer at the 8:16 mark of the first half,Stanford answered with a 25-0 run the rest of the way in which Jamesscored eight points and Ogwumike seven in a row. The Cardinal led 48-21at the break.Stanford plays No. 4 Xavier onTuesday afternoon at Maples Pavilion, several hours before top-rankedConnecticut goes for its 90th straight victory at Pacific in nearbyStockton. Then, the Huskies visit Stanford on Dec. 30 in a highlyanticipated rematch of last season's national title game won 53-47 byUConn after Stanford led 20-12 at halftime.The Cardinal are the last team to beat the Huskies, in the 2008 national semifinals in Tampa, Fla.Nobody expected the overmatched Donsto stay with Stanford for long. Azzi said beforehand she just hoped herplayers gained some valuable experience playing against a top programin the country, but they hung tough early.Stanford is 21-9 all time againstSan Francisco, which finished seventh in the eight-team West CoastConference the past four seasons and went 5-27 overall and 1-13 in WCCplay last season.Former major league pitcher VidaBlue sat in the front row. Elementary students from the Oakland schoolwhere he volunteers sang the national anthem.