Stanford's Tara VanDerveer Ties Alltime Record for Wins by Beating Cal
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer tied the NCAA alltime record for career wins by a women's basketball coach and a Stanford player had a dunk as the No. 1-ranked Cardinal defeated Cal 83-38 Sunday night in Berkeley.
VanDerveer did it against Cal head coach Charmin Smith, one of VanDervr's former players and one of her former assistant coaches.
VanDerveer, 67, now has 1,098 career wins as the coach at Idaho, Ohio State and Stanford. That ties the women's record held by the late Pat Summitt. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, with 1,159 wins, is the only Division I coach with more NCAA basketball coaching victories than those two.
VanDerveer will have a chance to break the women's record when the Cardinal faces Pacific in Stockton, Calif., on Tuesday in a game that will be televised by ESPN2.
VanDeveer said afterward that she is not "a John Wooden Jr.," and she added, "It's about having great players. My dad, who has passed away over 20 years now, told me, 'You don't win the Kentucky Derby on donkeys.'"
"I just want to congratulate Tara on tying Pat for alltime winningest coach," said Cal's Smith, who played at Stanford under VanDerveer from 1993-94 through 1996-97 and was a Stanford assistant from 2004 through 2007. "Obviously I'm really happy for her, and I think, I don't know anyone who's done it better."
The highlight of Sunday's one-sided game came in the second quarter when Stanford's 6-foot-1 Fran Belibi pulled off a slam dunk on a breakaway. It was her first collegiate dunk.
Here's the dunk on Sunday:
Expect more such rim-rattler from Belibi, who had several impressive dunks while in high school in Colorado, as seen here in the second half of this slam-dunk video:
Stanford improved to 4-0 overall, 2-0 in the Pac-12, and Cal sank to 0-5, 0-2 in the conference while committing 33 turnovers and shooting 23.3 percent from the floor.
Smith was a key member of three of VanDerveer's Final Four teams at Stanford. Smith was a starter on the 1997 Stanford team that went 34-2 and lost to Old Dominion in overtime in the national semifinals.
Smith was of two minds about the fact that VanDerveer tied the record by beating her Cal team.
The Stanford team has not been home for a while. The Cardinal arrived in Berkeley on Saturday following 10 days in Las Vegas, temporarily relocating training and competition due to the emergency directive issued by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department on Nov. 28. The Cardinal will travel directly to Stockton.
The outcome of Sunday's game was never in doubt as Stanford scored the first 14 points of the game. The Bears, again playing without point guard Leilani McIntosh (concussion), missed their first 10 shots from the floor and committed 12 turnovers before they converted their first field goal of the game, a three-pointer by Dalayah Daniels with 15 seconds left in the first quarter.
Cameron Brink was Stanford's high scorer with 16 points, and freshman Fatou Samb led Cal with 10.
VanDerveer talks about Pat Summitt after Sunday's game:
Cover photo of Tara VanDerveer by David Banks, USA TODAY Sports
.
Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by searching: @si.calsportsreport
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.
