Stanford alum and friend of leftcoasthoops.com Brooke Smith was kind enough to share her experience on Monday visiting the White House with the Phoenix Mercury to mark the team’s 2009 WNBA Championship.

Yesterday we spent an amazing day at the White House to celebrate 2009 WNBA Championship!

WNBA image

We arrived in the morning and had to go through a bunch of security to get into the White House. We then took a tour of some of the White House rooms. Our guide was great and told us some fun stories.

For example, in the Red Room there was a large fireplace and back in the day the women would gather around the fireplace for tea or social events. And during this time, women’s make-up was made out of beeswax, so when women would sit too close to the fire, they would tell one another to “mind their beeswax” and apparently that was where the expression came from. Who knew?

Another interesting story our guide told us was that Dolly Madison used to pick a random well-dressed woman from in front of the White House to come in for ice cream socials!

The tour of the rooms and the stories gave such a vivid look at our American history and the people who came before.

After our tour with the guide, we got to meet President Obama!

They brought the team out on a stage and then he came out, shook our hands and then addressed us and the crowd. It was an inspiring experience to be there and get to be recognized. He seemed really genuine and it was a privilege to be a part of it! After his speech, we got our picture taken with him and gave him a Mercury jersey. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Then our team joined Jennifer Azzi (Go Stanford!) on the White House basketball court for basketball clinic. It was great for us to get to work with some of the kids from DC and promote Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative to get kids more active. It was a hot day out there, but we had fun and the kids seemed to enjoy it and learn a few things.

Our day at the White House. It was an amazing experience and definitely gives us motivation to win another championship so we can get back there!!

By Rhiannon Potkey

LCH Correspondent

USC junior guard Jacki Gemelos is in pain on a daily basis. But for the first time in a long time, it’s good pain.

It’s not the pain of an injury. It’s the pain of her body adjusting to playing basketball on a regular basis.

USC's Jacki Gemelos - Jon Kondrath photo

“I have no complaints with me knees, but the other parts of my body are sore just from getting back in the swing of things,” Gemelos said this week. “I am using muscles I haven’t used in a long time, but overall I feel great. I feel like I am getting more in shape every time I step on the court, which is good.”

Gemelos’ ACL saga has been well-chronicled. The former McDonald’s All-American has endured four ACL injuries since her senior year at St. Mary’s High in Stockton, Calif.

It forced the 6-foot guard to wait until this season to make her collegiate debut.

But Gemelos is quickly making up for the lost time. In eight games, she has averaged 9.0 points and 3.9 rebounds in 21.6 minutes of play.

USC was mired in a five-game losing streak, but has rebounded to win four straight heading into its final Pac-10 Conference regular season game against Arizona State on Saturday. The Trojans are tied for third place in the conference standings with Cal.

“I think we are definitely peaking right now,” Gemelos said. “I think our coaches have made it very clear that every team in the country is tired and every team in the country is sore and it is just a matter of who is going to step up. I think that in our minds we know it is going to be us and we are going to do everything we can to make it happen.”

The Women of Troy are playing for their NCAA lives and racking up wins can only help.

Regardless of NCAA or NIT bids, Gemelos will get to experience at least a little taste of March Madness when USC hosts the Pac-10 Tournament next week at the Galen Center.

“Last year we played really good and made it to the championship game, but we got our butts kicked against Stanford,” said Gemelos, who watched in street clothes from the bench. “But up until that point we were playing our best ball of the season, and I think it’s nice to get to play at home and in front of our fans.”

After USC’s two-point win over Arizona on Thursday night, Gemelos called her dad expressing disappointment in her play. But he reminded her about how far she’s come.

“He said a year ago we would have dreamed of this, even if I played good or bad, so I think that really helps a lot,” she said. “It puts things into perspective a little bit more. I haven’t played in so long and this is what I have been asking for.”

Gemelos believes she is slowly returning to the form that made her the nation’s top recruit coming out of St. Mary’s in 2006.

“It is going to take some time for me to feel like my old self again. I think that I am going at a good pace right now and just letting the game come to me every day and continue adding more things to my game,” she said. “I definitely don’t feel the same as I used to, but I think it is all going to come back in time.”

And if it takes a few more sore muscles to make it happen, Gemelos won’t complain.

“I am very happy every time I step on the court and after I leave the court I am happy as well because I was able to complete a game,” she said. “Every game under my belt is a success in itself.”

By Rhiannon Potkey

LCH Correspondent

Miranda Ayim could have easily spent last summer traveling around with the Canadian Junior National team.

But the Pepperdine forward decided to stay in Malibu, Calif., to work on her game.

As one of only two seniors, Ayim knew her leadership skills would be put to better use helping Pepperdine gel into a cohesive unit.

The young Waves feature six freshmen and five sophomores this season, and Ayim wanted them prepared for the rigors of the college game.

“I wasn’t sure how it was all going to work out at first, but it’s gone really well,” Ayim said. “We are all really athletic and everyone is buying into our fast-paced defensive game and we are all on the same page as far as what we want to do.”

Those goals include an undefeated run through the West Coast Conference, a WCC Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

The first leg will face a big challenge on Thursday night as the Waves welcome five-time defending WCC champion Gonzaga to Firestone Fieldhouse. Gonzaga (14-4) and Pepperdine (12-5) are tied atop the conference standings with 3-0 records.

Pepperdine is rolling out the promotions to try and break its single-game attendance record as part of the NCAA’s “Pack The House Challenge.” Fans are being encouraged to wear orange and the first 100 Pepperdine students will receive “Beat The Zags” T-shirts.

But what could really put Pepperdine over the edge is the free post-game hot chocolate and pizza being offered to lure the cash-strapped college kids.

The Waves will need all the support they can get to gain an early edge in the WCC race.

“It is going to be a dogfight as usual,” Pepperdine head coach Julie Rousseau said. “As we are going through the first half of conference, I am looking at some film on teams and I know we have to come ready to play every night.”

Believing the conference is stronger and deeper, Rousseau hopes the WCC sends two teams to the NCAA Tournament this season.

“I think each coach in our conference made an effort to challenge their teams and programs in the preseason,” she said. “We are going out and playing teams in the Big East and Pac-10 and Big 12 and have won some of those games. I hope the NCAA recognizes that.”

Pepperdine’s success this season, which includes victories over Purdue and Providence, has been sparked by its defensive pressure.

The Waves are giving up 64.5 points per game, averaging 10.1 steals and have a positive turnover margin of 6.8.

The players have even coined a snazzy nickname to describe the contagious philosophy – Pressuredine.

“If you see your teammates really getting after it and working that hard, you don’t want to leave them out there to dry,” Ayim said. “If one person is doing it and the rest aren’t, it’s not going to work. That creates a culture of a defensive mind-set.”

The 6-foot-3 Ayim was just named WCC Co-Player of the Week after averaging 23.5 points, 10 rebounds and 4.0 blocks in victories over Santa Clara and San Francisco.

Ayim ranks among the top 10 in the WCC in seven categories, including points (15.5), rebounding (6.8) and blocked shots (2.2).

She is equally as impressive off the court. The public relations major has a 3.7 GPA, and is in the running for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

“She the type of person that does so much good for others and someone you want to be close to,” Rousseau said. “We’ve had four years together and it has just flown by for me. It’s probably gone slower for her. But I cherish every moment this year and she is really becoming the force that we need her to be on the court in leading our team.”

Ayim is the first Canadian Rousseau has recruited to Pepperdine, and the two have a lot in common. Their mothers are both teachers and their fathers are both pastors.

Rousseau said she knew Ayim was the perfect fit for her program the moment she arrived in London, Ontario Canada to watch her play.

“She literally said one sentence to me. She said, ‘God has given me a gift and I am committed to improving those gifts.’ I knew I had to have this kid,” Rousseau said. “She truly is the epitome of a student-athlete and continues to grow and get better every single year.”

Pepperdine’s campus is located on an oceanfront piece of property with spectacular views. The banner photo on its Web site is enough to attract recruits and cold-weather opponents.

But Malibu is not exactly a haven for media attention when it comes to sports. That’s why Rousseau has decided to get on her soapbox this season in regards to Ayim.

“Quite honestly she should be nominated as a regional All-America because of the numbers she is putting up,” Rousseau said. “Our team is having the success that it needs to have to support that and I want to get the word out.”

A strong performance against Gonzaga certainly would help the cause.

By Rhiannon Potkey

LCH Correspondent

LAS VEGAS — For Morghan Medlock, the day after was more emotionally challenging.

The Baylor senior forward participated in the Holiday Hoops Classic on the one-year anniversary of her mother’s tragic death.

On Dec. 19, 2008, Medlock’s mother, Shannan Brown, was shot and killed by her boyfriend in Little Rock, Ark., in an apparent murder-suicide. The bodies were discovered by Medlock’s 12-year-old half brother, Nizhan.

Medlock learned about her mother’s death while at the team hotel in Eugene, Ore., where Baylor was scheduled to play the University of Oregon the following night. Medlock still took the court last season, and the Pasadena, Calif., native did the same one year later.

Medlock scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Baylor beat Gonzaga on Saturday night, and added six points and four rebounds to help the Bears hold off Arizona State and complete their West Coast sweep on Sunday.

“It was actually harder for me to focus and play today than it was yesterday for some odd reason,” Medlock said following the win over ASU. “I can’t really explain why, but it was definitely difficult to play today and get in the groove of things than it was yesterday.”

Medlock, nicknamed “Mo” by her teammates, transferred to Baylor after two seasons at USC. In the weeks following her mother’s death, her team and the Waco community helped Medlock deal with her grief.

“I think tragedy struck and I was at the right place at the right time,” Medlock said. “I wish I could have come to Baylor a lot sooner. They are really supportive and the coaches all flew out for the funeral. Everybody has been really, really supportive. It’s kind of hard to have down days and things like that when you have such a supportive group around you 24/7.”

Medlock finished 7 of 12 from the field in 32 minutes against Gonzaga to complement the near triple-double produced by 6-foot-8 freshman center Brittney Griner.

“Morgan is mature beyond her years. No one can understand what was her in her heart and her head today,” Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey said. “All you can do is hug her and love her and try not to talk about it unless she wants to talk about it. I’ve watched her handle the situation and for her to out there today knowing that was in the back of her head, she couldn’t have handled it any better.”

Medlock has experienced a few Pac-10 flashbacks during Baylor’s preseason with Bears having beaten Cal and ASU. From her vantage point, not much has changed.

“Cal to me was exactly the same minus two All-American post players in Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton. They are still athletic and fast,” Medlock said. “And Arizona State is still the same physical, hectic style of play minus senior All-American Briann January. From what I can see (ASU coach) Charli (Turner-Thorne) hasn’t changed a bit.”

Medlock boarded a flight home Monday morning to spend Christmas with her father in Pasadena, where her mother’s body is laid to rest.

“I am going to sit and eat and workout,” Medlock said. “That is it.”

By Rhiannon Potkey

LCH Correspondent

Kathy Olivier needed a cornerstone player to begin building her new program around.

After being named the head coach at UNLV before the 2008-09 season, Olivier wanted a player who embodied the ideals of what she would be teaching.

Kathy Olivier - UNLV athletics

Olivier wasn’t sure how long it would take to find that player, but she was lucky to hit the jackpot with her very first recruit.

One month after she was hired, Olivier signed Jamie Smith out of Iolani High School in Kailua, Hawaii.

The 6-foot Smith became the first UNLV women’s basketball player to be named Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year after setting school and conference season records last season for rebounds (304) and double-doubles (13).

She was the top rebounding freshman in the nation with an average of 9.5 rebounds per game.

“She is the poster child of what we want here. She is a quality citizen and has a great personality and she flat out gets it done on the court,” Olivier said. “A lot of people in the women’s basketball community really don’t know about her, but she is the real deal.”

Now a sophomore, Smith is part of the youth movement at UNLV, a program Olivier hopes she can develop into a Mountain West Conference title contender.

The Lady Rebels have only two seniors on the roster this season, and have welcomed four freshmen into the mix. Their starting lineup has recently consisted of one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen.

Smith was Hawaii’s Gatorade State Player of the Year as a senior at Iolani High, but was still unsigned when Olivier accepted the UNLV job in late April.

Olivier never saw Smith play in person before signing her, but could see her potential on film.

“She is just a relentless, blue-collar worker and does everything we ask her to do,” Olivier said. “She is amazing, absolutely amazing and people are starting to have her number. They have been zoning in on her to make sure she doesn’t rebound.”

Olivier was eager to see how Smith would perform against a Top-10 caliber opponent, and Smith delivered with an emphatic answer last month.

She scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds in a 78-68 loss to North Carolina.

“Come on, who does that against North Carolina’s No. 1 rebounder?” Olivier asked. “Honestly, it was unbelievable to me.”

Before taking over at UNLV, Olivier spent 15 years as the head coach at UCLA. She resigned in March of 2008, and was expected to take a job in the UCLA Athletic Department working on special projects.

But she was lured back into coaching only a month later when the job at her alma mater came open.

Olivier, a 1982 graduate of UNLV, was an All-American for the Lady Rebels in the 1979-80 season and averaged 18.1 points in her two-year career.

“I think I just wore out my welcome at UCLA to be honest,” Olivier said. “I was there forever, and probably beat them to the punch. But I actually said at one point in my career I would probably finish at UNLV because I’m an alumna. The timing was so perfect and everyone is really excited to have me back.”

Olivier says the biggest adjustment in moving from the Pacific-10 Conference to the Mountain West Conference has been the travel.

“The conference road trips are definitely more challenging because of a lot of different reasons,” Olivier said. “Going into New Mexico, you are playing in front of almost 10,000 and that’s tough, and in Wyoming you have to deal with the altitude. I think our freshmen aren’t going to know what hit them and I haven’t even dealt with that yet this year.”

But things might be a bit easier this season considering someone in town is providing the men’s and women’s teams with charter flights to all their away games, according to Olivier.

It could be the first of many tokens of fan appreciation if Olivier achieves her goals for UNLV.

“If we can get rolling and get 20 wins in here then we could make some noise,” she said. “That is kind of our theme this year – ‘Make Some Noise.’ This town likes winners and we need to get it done and the town will embrace us.”

By Rhiannon Potkey

LCH Correspondent

Vicki Baugh doesn’t view herself as a celebrity. But that’s how she feels at times walking down the street in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Getting recognized comes with the territory when you play for the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team.

“It’s really funny how people react actually,” Baugh said. “I constantly have to remind them I am just a college basketball player.”

The adoration is in stark contrast to what Baugh experienced growing up in California and starring at Sacramento High.

Tennessee media relations

“It is very, very different. Women’s basketball is huge here and we have the best fans,” she said. “I think we have more fans and more support than some of the WNBA teams. That is how the South is, period. Hopefully the West Coast can catch up one day.”

Baugh is only the fourth player from California to be a member of Tennessee’s program.

She considered staying out West for college, and took recruiting trips to UCLA, Cal and USC.

“But I just felt like Tennessee was the right fit for me. It was literally like the shoe fit and I really thought it fit well,” Baugh said. “I love the team and the style of play and I really admire Pat Summitt’s coaching.”

But Baugh’s career hasn’t been without its share of adversity. The 6-foot-4 junior forward is still waiting to play in her first game this season, recovering from her second torn anterior cruciate ligament in the last two years.

Baugh first tore the ACL in her left knee as a freshman during Tennessee’s NCAA championship victory over Stanford.

She tore the same ACL last January in a game against Oklahoma, and had surgery in late February.

Baugh has been practicing with the Lady Vols, and hopes to return to game action this month.

But she is not rushing the process, and Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt has left it up to Baugh to determine when she makes her debut.

“She doesn’t want me coming on the court and in a game until I feel completely comfortable,” Baugh said. “I am not back where I want to be yet, but I am very, very close.”

Baugh used a donor graft for her first reconstruction surgery, but her body rejected it. So this time around she used her own tendon to repair the injury.

“If you use a donor you recover faster. If you use your own tendon, it is a lot more painful,” Baugh said. “So in that regard it is a little bit longer of a recovery.”

There has also been an emotional difference.

“The first time I didn’t really care because we just got through winning a championship and it’s hard to be down,” Baugh said. “But now I just want to get back to help my team as soon as possible.”

Having spent so much time in rehabilitation, Baugh has developed a tight bond with Tennessee trainer Jenny Moshak.

“Jenny is the best,” Baugh said. “We know each other pretty well and have become best friends over these past couple years. She is really a great, great person and she really cares about you and is passionate about her work to make sure you get better. A lot of former athletes like to come here and still have Jenny rehab them.”

Baugh’s injury was one difficult aspect of Tennessee difficult season a year ago.

The Lady Vols lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. But the young team has matured this season and it’s showing in its play.

Sixth-ranked Tennessee improved to 6-0 after Tuesday night’s victory over George Washington.

One week earlier, the Lady Vols earned back the right to use their 4,500-square foot locker room for the first time in nine months following a strong road performance against Virginia.

“Last year we were depending on freshmen, and we learning how to be leaders. This year we understand what we need to do and the freshmen learned a lot,” Baugh said. “The process was more mental because we have always had these same abilities that we are showing now. It’s just a matter of us pulling it together and being the team we know we can be and we are definitely doing that this year.”

Baugh will be returning to Northern California in a few weeks when Tennessee plays Stanford on Dec. 19 and San Francisco on Dec. 22.

It will be a chance for her to reunite with family and friends.

Baugh was raised in Sacramento by her grandparents and lifelong guardians, Calvin and Barbara Baugh, and has five siblings. She is also extremely close with her four cousins.

If Baugh’s knee is ready, her family may even get to see her in uniform.

“I can go out there and play if I wanted to, but honestly I would be coming back a little too early right now,” Baugh said just before Tennessee played Virginia on Nov. 22. “That’s the reason I haven’t been playing yet. I am just taking it on a day-by-day basis.”

By Rhiannon Potkey

LCH Correspondent

At an age when most kids still can’t decide what they want for breakfast, Loyola Marymount University coach Julie Wilhoit had already determined her future profession.

Born and raised in hoops-crazed Indiana, Wilhoit knew by age 10 she wanted to coach basketball.

Julie Wilhoit - Photo by Dave Gonzales

Her elementary school didn’t have a fifth-grade girls’ team, so Wilhoit would sit on the sideline pretending to coach the boys’ team.

“I was a very weird kid,” she said. “If you were a person sitting in the stands, you would look at me like, ‘What the heck is she doing?’ I really fantasized about it.”

Wilhoit’s epiphany in terms of the level she wanted to coach came during her junior year at Marian College in Indianapolis.

“After one particular game, I said how much I loved college basketball and how so sad I was that I only had one year left,” Wilhoit said. “I made the decision right then and there I was going to coach college. I was not going to go the high school route. I can still see that moment in my head.”

In her 15th season at LMU, Wilhoit is the longest-tenured Division I women’s head coach in Southern California.

The three-time West Coast Conference Coach of the Year has led the Lions to an average of 18 wins per season in the last eight years, including the program’s first WCC title and NCAA appearance in 2003-04.

LMU was picked to finish second in the WCC this season behind defending champion Gonzaga.

The Lions return all but one player from a team that finished 18-12 last year.

“I love this team,” Wilhoit said. “We are able to do so much more coaching with this team than we were with the team we had last year. This team’s maturity allows them to be coached and it allows us as coaches to take another step.”

The Lions will lean on two record-breaking players in their push to capture the program’s second WCC title.

Junior guard Renahy Young led the Lions in scoring last season at 14.8 points, and set an LMU sophomore record with 444 points. Sophomore Alex Cowling was named WCC Newcomer of the Year after posting averages of 13.4 points and 6.2 rebounds.

Cowling, who has an older sister running track at Cal and one playing volleyball at UC Riverside, broke the program’s freshman scoring record (344 points) and led all freshmen nationally in shooting percentage (54.2).

Washington transfer Candice Nichols returns to run the point for the Lions. The 5-foot-10 sophomore appeared in 19 games last season after sitting out the fall semester due to NCAA transfer rules.

“Last year was a little tricky for her in terms of it was almost like a brand new freshman year,” Wilhoit said of Nichols. “Her level of play and her confidence and maturity has grown so much from last year.”

During her playing days, Wilhoit practically lived the female version of the movie “Hoosiers.”

Her high school had only 300 students in grades 7-12, and her team participated in the final of the state championship year after year.

“We were competing against schools with 5-6,000 students,” said Wilhoit, who was inducted into the Ripley County Hall of Fame. “Basketball was the culture there, and it became my passion largely because the state I grew up in embraced it that way.”

Wilhoit has received coaching overtures from other colleges over the years, but has chosen to remain at LMU.

“You never say never, but at this time I am really still motivated and very inspired by what we can do here and the type of athletes we can recruit,” she said. “Our recruiting continues to grow and get better in who we are attracting and that’s exciting.”

By Rhiannon Potkey

LCH Correspondent

Redemption rarely comes as quickly for athletes. Sometimes it never comes.

But University of Washington guard Sami Whitcomb didn’t have to wait long for a chance to change her fortunes.

Just one game after failing to hit crucial shots in the final seconds of a loss, Whitcomb drained the game-winning 3-pointer with four seconds remaining to lead the Huskies to a 67-66 home-opening victory over BYU.

“I’ve never had a game-winner like that where it was in the very final seconds, so that was pretty special,” Whitcomb said. “Those are always the moments you want and the moments you dream about in basketball.”

Whitcomb had visions of game-winning shots dancing through her head after Washington’s season-opening loss to Portland State four days earlier.

In that game, Whitcomb missed a free throw with 14 seconds remaining and Washington holding a 66-65 lead. That allowed Portland State’s Kelli Valentine to hit a jumper with less than a second remaining to sink the Huskies.

Whitcomb had a desperation 3-point shot with 0.3 seconds remaining fall short at the buzzer.

But she rebounded in a big way against BYU. The eery similarities between the games made it fitting that Whitcomb would have the ball in her hands once again to decide the outcome.

• Both games finished with the same 67-66 score.
• Both games featured comebacks, and of course, both games featured game-winning shots in the final seconds.

“It is weird, really weird,” Whitcomb said. “I didn’t notice it was the exact same score until after it was over. But I am glad we had 67 this time.”

Despite her teammates and coaches reminding her the game against Portland State wasn’t lost on one play, Whitcomb felt solely responsible.

“I felt terrible,” said Whitcomb, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Vikings. “My teammates probably expected that free throw to go in as much as I was because we are all pretty good free-throw shooters. I was so, so disappointed.”

A gym rat since middle school, Whitcomb went straight to the UW practice facility to shoot free throws the next morning.

“It was even more frustrating to go in there and make them,” Whitcomb said. “I was like, ‘Uh, why couldn’t I make those in the game’.”

Washington coach Tia Jackson challenged Whitcomb to a free-throw contest after practice to see who could make 25 in a row first.

“We did it for an hour, back and forth. We would get to 24 and miss and 23 and miss,” Whitcomb said. “It was really fun and it was her way of sort of re-establishing my confidence in my free-throw shot and I definitely think it worked.”

The final play against BYU wasn’t designed for Whitcomb to take a 25-footer. Jackson wanted Whitcomb to post up inside, and if that wasn’t available, for her to screen up to get Regina Rogers open on the block.

But, “the girl gave me an inch and I took the shot and it went in,” Whitcomb said. “It’s one of those shots where if you make it, it’s ‘Great job.’ But if you miss it, it’s ‘What are you thinking? That was not a good shot at all.’”

Whitcomb finished with a game-high 25 points, including her team’s final 12 in the last 2:19 of the game.

Whitcomb admits beating BYU was likely not something Washington would have accomplished in past seasons. The Huskies have been a program in turmoil since June Daugherty was fired in 2007. Four players transferred in Jackson’s first season, and with the Huskies finishing last in the Pac-10 Conference last season, questions about Jackson’s job status have been circling in the media.

“This spring and summer we just decided regardless of what everyone else thinks, we believe in what we are capable of and we know that with hard work we can accomplish anything,” Whitcomb said. “The BYU game in itself is so indicative of the growth we’ve had together. We fought, and there was never any question in our mind we were going to win it.”

By Vicki L. Friedman

LCH Correspondent

NORFOLK, Va. – The weather outside was daunting and so was the show that the Stanford Cardinal put on at the Constant Center on Friday night against Old Dominion.

Second-ranked Stanford cruised to an 89-56 victory in its season opener in a game that was never close. The Cardinal led 29-4 in the initial 8:51 was up 30 by the break.

“This is really a big win for our team coming out here under some of the extenuating circumstances,” said Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer.

The Cardinal endured a 12-hour travel day and three airplanes on Wednesday only to arrive in an area that has been declared a natural disaster due to a massive amount of flooding from a lingering nor’easter.

“I hope this game will help ODU,” VanDerveer said. “I know it will help us.”

Nnemkadi Ogwumike’s 25 points led four Cardinal players in double figures. Stanford tore apart ODU’s man-to-man defense with Ogwumike dominating in the low block on 10-of-14 shooting.

Ogwumike’s 12 rebounds gave her a double-double along with Jayne Appel (19 points, 11 boards).

Still, the sophomore wrinkled her nose at a stat sheet that showed she committed three turnovers.

“I’m concerned about the three turnovers,” she said. “Whatever they need me to do – rebound, pass – I’ll just do it.

As polished as Ogwumike looked, VanDerveer expects even more in a season when Stanford is expected to return to the Final Four for the third consecutive time.

“Compared to what she’s done in practice and exhibitions, she can do much better,” VanDerveer said. “She could have easily had 30 tonight.”
For most of the night, ODU didn’t look as if it would score 30. The Lady Monarchs, who failed to make the NCAA tournament last season for the first time in 17 years, started a freshman at point guard and got no points from preseason all-conference selection Jessica Canady.

Canady, recovering from offseason knee surgery, played 16 minutes and hobbled to the locker room with 7:25 remaining in the game. She did not return.

ODU’s 25 percent shooting effort in the first half accounted for 23 points to Stanford’s 50. VanDerveer used her subs liberally in a second half when Stanford only outscored ODU by three.

“We came out and caught them on their heels,” Appel said. “Now we just have to do that for a full game.”

Stanford’s 62 percent shooting effort in the first half dropped to 36 percent in a second half when the Cardinal committed 13 turnovers. ODU was never closer than 26 points.

Stanford’s Jeanette Pohlen scored 15 and Kayla Pedersen 14.

Jasmine Parker’s 16 led ODU.