January 2006 Archives

Below is C and R's account of Stanford Women's Basketball game vs. Cal, commemorating the first time they played in 1896

Jan 14-Cal v Stanford

Got to R's house, raining again, we are running late and there is an accident on the freeway. But we finally make it through, R takes the right exit and we park. We get to the luncheon, sign in, oh, free coasters, and then, freebies galore. Tons of magnets, trading cards and posters. A red bracelet that says "Stanford Basketball". I will get an extra one for my daughter. So much stuff. R says she has big pockets. We fill them.

Get to the food, sandwiches. What, no mustard? This is Stanford. All the alcohol we can drink! We are livin' large (Not that WSI drank any, mind you). We sit in chairs lined up for the speakers. They announce in a few minutes they will take away the food and start the speeches. R and I look at each other and make a game plan. Keep stuffing face until the final minutes then load up plate again. It works. We chow.

The speakers are good. Very interesting and thought provoking. We discover we are sitting near the Cal section. Major faux pas. We boo Cal appropriately  They bring up the first intercollegiate game 110 years ago, which Stanford won 2-1. They have the great-great grand daughter of the women who made the winning basket. How cool is that?! They give her a Stanford sweat shirt.

After the speakers and coffee and snickerdoodles,  we head to the game. We see many friends. Make it in just as the National Anthem is being played. R really likes this group of harmony singers. They do an excellent job. The Cal band is in the top corner, and they shout sometimes during the National Anthem. What is up with that? Then it is a battle of the bands as the women warm up. We are behind Stanford's basket as they are shooting. I never get jaded of seeing Candice Wiggins making a jump shot 10 feet in front of me.

Game starts and the Stanford band is still singing the song they finished playing. R explains that they have to keep singing until Stanford makes a basket. Cal goes up 1-0. Will it be the same score as 110 years ago? Stanford still hasn't scored several minutes into the game, and they are still singing, growing tired and weary. Once they had to sing for 9 minutes, explains R.

So here Cal comes out, without their head coach, and without their leading scorer (Devanei Hampton,  suspended for a game) and gives their best performance in years. R tells me, "This is the first time I have seen Cal competitive in my 15 years of coming here." Stanford finally scores, so band can stop singing, yet they are down early. Cal's Alexis Gray-Lawson was on a mission. She ended up scoring 30 points, but it was the way she scored them. She is only a freshmen, but she had the competitive attitude of "you can't stop me." She often would take the ball coast to coast (even at the detriment of her team) and shoot. And if she got a rebound, she would muscle it up and in. She lead her team, and she was so capable, strong and driven. She and the other freshmen are used to winning and they didn't back down or fold up when Stanford got a big lead. Which they did.

At half time, we don't leave the court, being full from lunch, but we visit and were visited by several friends. On the court, they have two teams of women trying to see how many baskets they can get in 60 seconds. The teams have politicians and women sports writers. It was interesting to see who was who. We are more interested in the sports writers, especially Ann Killion from the Mercury and Michelle Smith from the Chronicle. Then back to the action

Brooke Smith got beat up inside, although she put up some good hooks. Wiggins was focused, scored outside three pointers, and played really well. She had great defense and made several steals. One was right under the basket were we were sitting, as Cal inbounded the ball, they got lazy and she stole it and had a quick lay up. But she missed, and she got the rebound and this time two Cal players were on her but she was able to put it up and get it to go in. No one for Stanford really stood out, as Alexis Gray-Lawson did for Cal. But Stanford played great team ball, lots of passing. Rosalyn Gold-Onwude played point and had good ball control. Harmon played well defensively, and her rebounds were huge, but only 2 points offensively. And Newlin started her first game back from the stress fracture. She just played okay. R found it interesting that Tara played her entire team even though the game was not a Stanford blow out.

I tell R I will give her 20 bucks to hug the Stanford tree.

Cal cut the lead to six, but then Wiggins took over. They left the three point line unguarded. Wiggins hit some, and so did Rappahan. I would say we beat them just by being well coached. Cal came back because of individual cockiness. But I think you also need to play team ball to play to win.

When Stanford pulled away in the final minutes, R said we should leave early to beat the traffic. I said, "what about the little red balls that they throw at the end?" So we stay. The game ends, I move down our row and into the aisle. I see a ball launched near mid court toward our section. My heart leaps as I just know it is coming to me. I follow it and watch it hit my hands. I caught one! R says it was thrown from Wiggins! No way? Sweet!

We walk out and some little boy asks if he can have the ball. I say no way, this came from Wiggins. We walk outside and the rain has stopped. It was a good victory, but we can't help thinking the next time these two teams meet, it will be at Cal, and Cal will have their head coach and leading scorer back. It suddenly got a lot harder to beat Cal.