Stanford rolls, gives Tara VanDerveer 700th win at school

STANFORD, Calif. -- Tara VanDerveer barely had time to soak

up her 700th career victory at Stanford before the longtime

Cardinal coach was asked whether she'd be sticking around to make a

run at 800.

"That's only three years if you can get 30 a year," VanDerveer

said.

The second-ranked Cardinal are certainly showing no signs of

slowing down this season and are barreling toward the postseason

looking for their fifth straight appearance in the Final Four.

At this rate, there's no telling when VanDerveer might quit.

Chiney Ogwumike scored 16 points and had 12 rebounds, older

sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike added 15 points and five blocks and

Stanford beat Utah 69-42 on Saturday to extend the nation's longest

active home winning streak to 78 games.

In doing so, the Cardinal completed the season sweep of the Utes

while giving their Hall of Fame coach her milestone win.

"It would have happened sooner if Nneka had a clone," joked

VanDerveer, who is fifth on the all-time coaching list with 852

wins. "She coached me before the game. She said, 'Tara, keep it

together.' I did my best ... but you're lucky if you ever have a

player like this in your career."

Joslyn Tinkle had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal

(26-1, 17-0 Pac-12), who led the entire way and ran their

conference winning streak to 74 despite going just 2 of 12 on

3-pointers.

Taryn Wicijowski scored 15 points and Iwalani Rodrigues had 12

for Utah, which has lost two straight after winning three in a row.

The Utes trailed by as much as 27 and never recovered after

shooting 23.8 percent in the first half.

"Playing a team like this, it takes a little while to get used

to the size and the pace," Utah coach Anthony Levrets said. "We

didn't shoot well but a lot of that has to do with how (the

Cardinal) defend."

VanDerveer became just the seventh coach to win 700 games at one

school with Stanford's 23rd straight victory this season. She

joined a list that includes Tennessee's Pat Summitt and

Connecticut's Geno Auriemma.

Even in the milestone victory -- which came on Senior Day at

Stanford -- VanDerveer was her typical fiery self.

She yelled at her players for a mistake on an inbounds play with

the Cardinal leading by 17 in the second half, then later shook her

head emphatically as she questioned Nneka Ogwumike during a

timeout.

VanDerveer was also the first to notice when the scoreboard

malfunctioned with 3½ minutes remaining -- only after a Stanford

basket failed to register.

The crowd at Maples Pavilion rose in unison to give VanDerveer a

standing ovation after the final buzzer sounded, though the veteran

coach showed little emotion.

Instead, she seemed more caught up in the postgame ceremony

honoring Stanford's four seniors, including team captain Nneka

Ogwumike, who has never lost a home game in her four years on the

Farm.

"Defending Maples has been real important," Ogwumike said.

"We've had a lot of great teams come through here and we've done a

good job of getting all the young players to understand how

important it is to win here."

Utah (13-14, 6-10) made one run and pulled within 50-34 when

Wicijowski scored on a three-point play midway through the second

half but wilted down the stretch and remained winless in 14 games

against Stanford.

The Cardinal got their normal scoring from the Ogwumike sisters,

who combined to go 12 of 23 from the floor. Stanford also got a big

lift from freshman guard Amber Orrange, who had 12 points and four

rebounds.

Now it's just a matter of Stanford tightening up things in their

bid for the postseason.

The second-ranked Cardinal host Seattle University in a

nonconference game Wednesday before closing out the Pac-12

slate on the road against California on March 4.

Stanford had no problem scoring against Utah and rode one of its

best defensive efforts of the season to the lopsided win.

The Utes were called for shot clock violations on their first

two possessions, made just five field goals in the first half and

trailed 36-14 at the break.

Utah coach Anthony Levrets, frustrated by his team's lack of

offense, repeatedly yelled at officials throughout the first half

and was whistled for a technical foul with 2:22 left.

Tinkle, who had six points during an 18-3 run, made both free

throws to give the Cardinal a 35-10 lead. The Utes never got closer

than 16 the rest of the way.