SAN ANTONIO – Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer hugged each of her players Sunday night as they climbed the ladder to cut down the nets at the Alamodome, capping a taxing whirlwind journey and ending an exhausting national title drought for the Cardinal.
It took 29 years – including 10 weeks on the road this season because of the coronavirus pandemic – for VanDerveer and the Cardinal to be crowned NCAA champions again.
“We had some special karma going for us,” VanDerveer said. “Had the comeback against Louisville, dodge a bullet against South Carolina, dodge bullet against Arizona. Sometimes you have to be lucky. I’ll admit it, we were very fortunate to win.”
Haley Jones scored 17 points as Stanford beat Arizona 54-53, giving the Cardinal and their Hall of Fame coach their first national championship since 1992.
“Getting through all the things we got through, we’re excited to win the COVID championship,” said VanDerveer, whose team was the 64-team bracket’s No. 1 overall seed. “The other one was not quite as close, the last one. But we’re really excited. No one knows the score, no one knows who scored, it’s a national championship.”