The Stanford University women’s basketball team won the NCAA Championship this weekend, according to CBS News. It marked the first time the team has won the title in 29 years, according to KRON-TV.
“We had some special karma going for us,” Coach Tara 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.”
Stanford beat Arizona 54-53. Player Haley Jones, who was named as the NCAA tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, scored 17 points.
Both teams made mistakes during the game with players missing opportunities to score, including easy layups. However, the Stanford players did enough to scrape by with the win.
It was also a challenging season overall for the players. Due to the impact of the pandemic, they were obligated to travel on the road for almost 10 weeks and also spent 86 days in hotels. However, VanDerveer, 67, said the team took it all in stride. Their tournament win also marks a milestone in VanDerveer’s career.
This marked the 1,099th career victory for the Hall of Fame coach. She now has the most wins of all time in women’s basketball history for any coach, even surpassing Pat Summitt’s record.
This is VanDerveer’s third national title after the championships she won in 1990 and 1992. The win was also the first women’s basketball championship in the Pac-12 since the Stanford women’s team won the NCAA title in 1992.
