Friday, February 13, 1998
Stanford humbles UCLA to take conference lead
WHOOPS: Foul-plagued Bruins unable to combat Cardinal’s hot
shooting
By David Arnold
Daily Bruin Contributor
Just when UCLA thought it had arrived as a power in Pac-10
women’s basketball, Stanford showed the Bruins who’s the boss in a
105-81 Maples massacre Thursday night in Palo Alto. It was the
college basketball equivalent of Dikembe Mutumbo wagging his
finger: not in my house.
The Bruins (14-7, 9-3) had an opportunity to stand atop the
conference and look down upon a second-place Cardinal team, but it
was not to be. Rather it is Stanford who has once again exposed a
pretender to its conference throne.
"We’re just playing our best at the right time," said Stanford
head coach Tara Vanderveer whose Cardinal women (14-5, 10-1) had
just completed a season sweep of the Bruins. "We don’t try to focus
on any one game than another in the Pac-10 race … We’re really
trying to get focused on the NCAA."
According to Vanderveer, UCLA will also get the opportunity to
focus on the Big Dance: "UCLA is, in my mind, a top 25 team, a
tournament team. They’re going to be there down the stretch, and
we’re going to see them again."
When the Bruins took the floor they immediately looked
upset-bound, starting out with three steals to translate into their
first six points. UCLA would cling to its lead for the first 12 and
a half minutes, but then, as Bruin point guard Erica Gomez put it,
"Their post beat us."
UCLA’s early success was due mostly to their aggressive defense,
which has previously won them games but this time ended up shooting
them in the foot.
"Our defense started playing them stronger," said Gomez who saw
early foul trouble as did her teammates.
The Bruins were so foul prone early on that they averaged a foul
a minute for the first six minutes.
When the tide changed it was mainly due to the red-hot shooting
of Stanford’s Vanessa Nygaard who scored a career-high 32 points,
draining 11 from the field, four from the line, and six from behind
the arc.
What would the Bruins do differently if they had another game
against the Cardinal?
"We’d probably guard Vanessa," admitted UCLA head coach Kathy
Olivier.
But Nygaard wasn’t the only Bruin killer last night, as
sixth-woman Kristin Fokl (who Nygaard refers to as "the best
sixth-man in the entire world") came off the bench, scored 19
points, grabbed eight rebounds, and sat down to a standing
ovation.
"They’re a team that thrives on spacing. They played much
better, obviously, than they did at our place," said Olivier. "The
Pac-10 gears them for the tournament."
Looking ahead to the Bruins next match, a Valentine’s date with
Cal in Oakland.