The players' reddened eyes told the whole story. This was the No. 1-ranked team that had dropped only two regular-season games. That had solidly downed defending champion Connecticut. That could have gone all the way. But instead, the Cardinal women’s basketball team ran into a brick wall called Michigan State, and exited the NCAA tournament in the Elite Eight for the second year in a row.
“We thought we deserved to be in the Final Four,” senior guard Kelley Suminski said in an emotional postgame press conference. “We had worked so hard. And it’s just so sad to have this happen.”
With standout seniors, skilled post players, a deep bench and the best freshman in the country, this team looked like it could be the one to return the Cardinal to the glory of the 1990s, when the team went to the Final Four six times and won two championships. “You always hold out for a team like this,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said before the regional final. “You think in the back of your mind, ‘It’s coming.’”
And what a run they had. On the heels of a 26-2 regular season, the Cardinal won its third straight Pac-10 championship in early March. The Band welcomed players onto the hardwood at San Jose’s HP Pavilion with the “Throne Room” fanfare from Star Wars, and hundreds of fans chanted “Six more wins” as the players exited, freshly crowned. When freshman guard Cissy Pierce wore her championship T-shirt to her Poetry and Poetics class the following day, the instructor almost asked his favorite student-athlete for an autograph. “If I could sink long shots the way that Cissy can read poems, I’d have my own brand of sneakers by now,” says assistant professor of English Nick Jenkins.
Two weeks later, the No. 2 seed in the Kansas City region steamrolled into Fresno, Calif.—or Sebville, as VanDerveer called it, in a reference to the media attention on senior Sebnem Kimyacioglu. In the opening game against Santa Clara, 5-foot-11 Sebnem faced her younger sister, 5-foot-7 Yasemin—and helped the Cardinal trounce the Santa Clara Broncos 94-57. (Still, said Yasemin, “It was cool to say I played my sister in an NCAA tournament.”) In the next game, against Utah, the announcer was still throwing phonetic airballs every time Sebnem Kimyacioglu hit a bucket (it’s SHEB-nem KIM-YAH-zhee-oh-lou). The forward scored a season-high 13 points; junior center Brooke “With the Hook” Smith finessed a team-high 20 points; and seniors Susan King Borchardt, Azella Perryman and Suminski joined them in double digits. Stanford sent the Utes packing, 88-62. Whereupon Smith’s mom, Alison Smith-Brennan, let loose with a calling-all-dogs whistle: “It’s my little contribution.”
Then it was on to Kansas City, Mo.—or Candice City, so dubbed by fans of guard Candice Wiggins. The team’s leading scorer, Wiggins is the first Stanford freshman—and only the ninth freshman in history—to be named a Kodak All-American. She’s also the first player ever named both Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and Pac-10 Player of the Year.
More than 200 parents and fans made the trip to KC, and others kept a close watch from campus. On Easter morning, the Rev. Joanne Sanders, associate dean for religious life, told a full house in Memorial Church that it was a special day, one when doughnuts were served. “Have one,” she suggested, “and root for our Stanford women’s basketball team at 6:30 tonight.” To which, Sanders says, “there was applause.”
While their families walked off nervousness, players watched videotape of the first Goliath they would need to fell: the University of Connecticut. Perhaps the marquee women’s program in the country. Certainly the three-time defending NCAA champion.
Except that the Cardinal was having none of the hype. Borchardt, who had opened the first team meeting of the season by passing around a “Sweet Sixteen” t-shirt that had photos of all 16 Cardinal players, drew up a sign that asked, “Mystique? What number is she?” Overnight, the UConn contest became winnable.
Notables piled into the stands for the 9 p.m. tip-off, including football great John Elway, ’83, father of freshman guard Jessica, and Utah Jazz player Curtis Borchardt, ’03, husband of Susan. But the Cardinal struggled with missed shots and turnovers, and pulled up six points short at the half. In the locker room, it was time to draw a line. “We decided we didn’t want to go home,” Borchardt says.
Wiggins ignited a second-half attack in which the Cardinal shot 58 percent from the floor. She would finish with a game-high 21 points plus six rebounds and 11-for-12 shooting at the free-throw line. When senior forward T’Nae “T-Money” Thiel, coming off a February fracture in her left foot, connected on a 15-point jumper with seven minutes remaining to take the score to 53-46, players on the Cardinal bench couldn’t sit still any longer. Goliath ultimately was slain 76-59.
The team entered the March 29 regional final on the wings of a 23-game winning streak. Many considered the Cardinal evenly matched with No. 1 seed Michigan State. On both teams, “people play hard, with and for each other,” VanDerveer said before the game. “Michigan State is not the most athletic team out there, and neither are we. But we both shoot the ball and are very fundamental teams.”
Indeed, the mirror-image teams reached a tie score nine times. But the opportunity for a tenth tie slipped away when Suminski missed a 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining. Michigan State sealed the game with a layup and two free throws, winning 76-69.
Michigan State coach Joanne P. McCallie called it a “classic” matchup for the women’s game: “Just a terrific basketball game, absolutely terrific.” When the final points were tallied, Suminski placed second in the school record books with 208 career three-pointers; Kimyacioglu was right behind her with 205. Wiggins set a single-season Stanford record with 162 completed free throws.
Suminski also demonstrated the true nature of sportsmanship in the final moments of NCAA competition. With 5.6 seconds remaining, she collided with Michigan State’s Lindsay Bowen, knocking her to the floor. Momentarily alarmed that Bowen might be hurt, Suminski reached out and pulled the player to her feet. To the end, the Cardinal’s rock-steady guard played as she had for four years. Fair, square and caring.
