CARDINAL RULE THE ROOST
Stanford captures first title since 1992 by edging Arizona
SAN ANTONIO — Coach Tara VanDerveer hugged each of her Stanford players as they climbed the ladder to cut down the nets Sunday, capping a whirlwind journey and ending a long championship drought for the Cardinal.
It took 29 years — including 10 weeks on the road this season because of the coronavirus — for VanDerveer and Stanford to be crowned NCAA women’s basketball champions again.
‘‘We had some special karma going for us,’’ VanDerveer said. ‘‘Had the comeback against Louisville, dodge a bullet against South Carolina, dodge a bullet against Arizona. Sometimes you have to be lucky. I’ll admit it: We were very fortunate to win.’’
Haley Jones scored 17 points, and the Cardinal edged Arizona 54-53 to give them 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,’’ VanDerveer said. ‘‘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.’’
It wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch, with both teams struggling to score and missing easy layups and shots, but Stanford did just enough to pull off the victory.
The Cardinal (31-2) built a ninepoint lead in the fourth quarter before the Wildcats (21-6) cut it to 51-50 on a three-pointer by star guard Aari McDonald.
After a timeout, Jones answered with a three-point play with 2:24 left. That would be Stanford’s last basket of the game.
‘‘I just owe it all to my teammates,’’ said Jones, who was honored as the Most Outstanding
Player of the tournament. ‘‘They have confidence in me when I don’t have confidence in myself. I saw they needed me to come up big, and I did.”
McDonald made three free throws in the next 1:47 to pull Arizona to 54-53 with 36.6 seconds left. The Cardinal then couldn’t get a shot off on their next possession, giving the Wildcats one last chance with 6.1 seconds left. But McDonald’s contested shot from the top of the key at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
‘‘I got denied hard,’’ said McDonald, who fell near midcourt, slumped in disbelief, while Stanford celebrated. ‘‘I tried to turn the corner, [and] they sent three [players] at me. I took a tough, contested shot, and it didn’t fall.’’
It was quite a journey for VanDerveer and the Cardinal this season. They were forced on the road for nearly 10 weeks because of the coronavirus, spending 86 days in hotels.
‘‘It was a long, very difficult journey being on the road, sleeping in hotels, living out of your bag,’’ Jones said. ‘‘It’s just a lot. You’re on the bus, you’re on planes all the time and there’s just never really an end in sight.
‘‘But I think from that experience . . . I think it just really kind of grew this extra, like, chip on our shoulder almost.’’
Stanford didn’t complain and went about its business and now has another NCAA championship. Along the way, VanDerveer earned her 1,099th career victory to pass the late Pat Summitt for the most all time in women’s basketball history.
Now she has a third national title to go along with the ones she won in 1990 and 1992. That moved her into a tie with Kim Mulkey for thirdmost all time behind Geno Auriemma (11) and Summitt (eight).