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Stanford women's basketball alltime team, part 5 (first team)
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We have arrived at the ultimate moment in the selection of our Stanford women’s basketball alltime team. Sort of. After selecting 20 of the top 25 players in the 35-year history of women’s hoops at Stanford by choosing a fifth, fourth, third and second team, we are now down to the final five, our first-team selections.
Being devoted to dramatic build up, however, we have decided to reveal the first team in two parts – today’s story, which includes three members of the first team, and Monday’s article, which will reveal the alltime greatest player in Stanford history. If we announced four today and left just one spot, the No. 1 player would be too obvious, so the top two will be left for Monday.
It comes as no surprise that all five first-team members played under Tara VanDerveer, and it is also assumed that Jayne Appel probably will supplant one of these players and join the first team a year from now. Whether the two incoming freshmen will eventually make it to that level is a question for the future.
As we have on the four previous teams, we have selected a quintet that could take the floor together. This starting five has just about everything a team could want – scoring, rebounding, playmaking, leadership, shot-blocking, speed, skill and grit. It is a Stanford Dream Team.
Kate Starbird, G – The No. 2 alltime scorer at Stanford with 2,215 points, Starbird is one of just two Cardinal players to be named Naismith national player of the year, an award she won in 1997. A two-time All-American and two-time Pac-10 player of the year, Starbird seemed too slender to be effective at the highest collegiate level, but somehow managed to slither around or over opponents. She is one of three Cardinal players to average better than 20 points in a season twice and is the only player to score 40 points or more in a game twice. She also ranks eighth on Stanford’s career assist list and is fifth in steals. The final college game for Starbird was one of her best but perhaps her most disappointing. She scored 21 points in the first half of a national semifinal game against No. 2 Old Dominion, putting the Cardinal ahead by 15. She finished with 26, but Stanford lost in overtime, the third straight season Starbird’s Cardinal had lost in the semifinals. All three years, Stanford finished ranked among the top four. Starbird is currently a Ph.D. student in the University of Colorado’s ATLAS program for technology, media and society.
Val Whiting, C – A two-time Kodak All-American and two-time Pac-10 player of the year, Whiting played on both of Stanford’s national championship teams (1990 and 1992). She had nearly half of the Cardinal’s points in its 66-65 victory over No. 1 Virginia in the 1992 semifinals, finishing with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Not bad for someone who, as a 12-year-old, had her heart set on becoming a cheerleader. Her 2,077 points are third on Stanford’s career list, and she is second in both rebounding (1,134) and blocked shots (201). She also led the team in steals as a senior in 1993. Whiting may have had the most productive three days in school history, scoring 35 points in consecutive games against USC and UCLA. A remakably consistent performer, her numbers for her junior and senior seasons were nearly identical. She had to turn down an invitation to try out for the 1992 Olympic team because the trials conflicted with her exam schedule. Whiting now owns and operates GameShape, a company in Delaware that trains competitive athletes.
Nicole Powell, F – One set of statistics tells you everything you need to know about Powell: Only one Pac-10 player has had more than one triple-double in her career, and that’s Powell, who had six triple-doubles, including five in her senior season alone. Two of those triple-doubles came in the NCAA tournament. The Magic Johnson-like numbers Powell put up helped make her a three-time Kodak All-American and three-time Naismith national player of the year finalist. She is one of six Pac-10 players to be named all-conference four times (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). Powell is near the top of nearly every statistical category at Stanford. She is fourth in career scoring, fifth in assists and fifth in three-pointers made. Her 1,143 career rebounds are No. 1 alltime at Stanford and No. 3 in the Pac-10, and she also led the team in steals in each of her four seasons. Stanford finished ranked in the top 10 in each of her final three years, and she is the highest WNBA draft pick to come out of Stanford, selected with the No. 3 overall pick in 2004. She is preparing for her sixth season in the WNBA after leading the Sacramento Monarchs in scoring last season with a 13.6 average. She has been a starter each of the past four seasons.
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