Sports Shorts
ON THE AIR
Stanford freshman guard Amber Orrange (33) is congratulated by Chiney Ogwumike after Orrange scored a career-high 18 points to help the Cardinal women’s basketball team win its 30th straight game in a 72-55 decision over West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday.
Stanford freshman guard is as good as gold Cardinal coach VanDerveer says Amber Orrange compares favorably with 1996 Olympian Dawn Staley by Rick Eymer tanford freshman point guard Amber Orrange received Tara VanDerveer’s highest compliment yet. Her coach called her “the closest I’ve ever had to Dawn.” VanDerveer was speaking of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who was the point guard for the 1996 Olympic gold medal team coached by VanDerveer, a team that won all 60 games they played dur-
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ing the 1995-96 season. Orrange will get an up close look at Staley on Saturday when secondranked Stanford (33-1) meets the 25th-ranked Gamecocks (25-9) at the Save Mart Center in Fresno in the NCAA Regional semifinals at 8:30 p.m. “Dawn is incredibly competitive,” VanDerveer said. “She was in the same vein as Amber. She was a great point guard and a winner.”
by Rick Eymer enior Josh Owens has to be feeling pretty good these days. He’s suffered through two of the most disappointing years a competitive basketball player could imagine and now he’s on top of the world. Owens and freshman Chasson Randle each scored 15 points as Stanford beat visiting Nevada, 84-56, in the quarterfinal of the National Invitation Tournament Wednesday night in Maples Pavilion. The next stop for the Cardinal (24-11) is Madison Square Garden in New York City, where it will play in the national semifinals against Massachusetts on Tuesday. Washington and Minnesota meet in the other semifinal, with the winners playing for the title on Thursday, March 29. “Getting the additional practice time, the
Monday College baseball: USC at Stanford, 4 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM) Men’s basketball: Postseason NIT: Stanford vs. Massachusetts, 4 p.m.; ESPN2; KNBR (1050 AM)
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Stanford’s Owens closing in on a successful finish
Saturday
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more of Amber,” Stanford sophomore forward Chiney Ogwumike said. “She is the quietest person on the team and her game is speaking volumes. You can see her evolving and see her personality expanding and we all really enjoy that.” Orrange was thrown into Stanford’s starting lineup five games into the Pac-12 Conference sched-
NIT BASKETBALL
College baseball: USC at Stanford, 1 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM) Women’s basketball: NCAA Tournament: Stanford vs. South Carolina, 8:30 p.m.; ESPN2; KZSU (90.1 FM) College baseball: USC at Stanford, 1 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)
Orrange was spectacular in Stanford’s 72-55 victory over West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA tournament Monday, scoring a career-high 18 points, grabbing a career-best seven rebounds, recording five assists and a steal, and did not turn the ball over. Orrange had a career-high 11 assists in the Cardinal’s 73-51 opening-round win over Hampton. “I think you’re starting to see
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tournament experience, can only help us,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “We have a good feel for the type of environment it’s going to be. It’s one of the best facilities for basketball in the world.” Owens missed out on the postseason fun when he sat out a medical redshirt season with an unspecified health condition two years ago and suffered through a losing season last year. He’s made up for lost time this year. “It’s special to still be playing basketball right now,” Owens said. “There are a lot of teams who’d like to be playing right now.” Josh Huestis added 12 points for Stanford, which played in the preseason NIT this season and becomes the fourth team to make two appearances at the Garden in the (continued on page 33)
Casey Valentine/stanfordphoto.com
OF LOCAL NOTE . . . Menlo Park resident F. Gabriel Morgan, 14, captured the U.S. Junior Squash Championship this past weekend at Yale University. Morgan competed in the Boys’ U15 division and was undefeated in five matches, held at Yale’s Brady Squash Center, en route to his first national title. Morgan defeated Timmy Brownell of Belmont, Mass., 11-7, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5 to wrap up the championship. During the weekend, 320 of the top-ranked U.S. junior squash players across five age divisions -- U11 to U19 -- competed in this prestigious tournament, which officially concludes the 2011-12 U.S. junior squash season. A member of the U.S. National Junior Team, Morgan is the No. 1-ranked squash player in the U.S. in his age division and is regarded as one of the top junior squash players in the world.
Don Feria/stanfordphoto.com
MAKING A SPLASH . . . Palo Alto High grad Liv Jensen, a senior on the University of California women’s swim team, helped the Bears defend their title at the NCAA Championships last week with a stunning victory in the 50-yard free. Jensen raced to victory in 21.48, the 14th-fastest time ever, to have .02 seconds from her fourth-ranked lifetime best of 21.50 from last year’s NCAA meet. Jensen became just the fourth swimmer ever under 21.5 while upending defending champ Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace of Auburn, which hosted the championships. The victory returned the title to Jensen, who won it in 2010 before losing to Vanderpool-Wallace in 2011. Jensen is one of only two Cal swimmers ever to win the race and the only to win it twice. The victory also moved the Bears into the lead, one they held through Saturday’s final day. The Bears finished with 412 1/2 points as fellow Paly grad Colleen Fotsch help provide points on the relays, as did Jensen. Stanford finished fourth, despite setting five school records during the three-day meet. The best mark came last as seniors Sam Woodward and Betsy Webb completed their Stanford careers as NCAA champions. Woodward and Webb joined Andi Murez and Maddy Schaefer to win in the 400 free relay in an American (and school) record 3:10.77 in the final race of the national championships.
Stanford senior Josh Owens (13) streaks in for two of his 15 points in an 84-56 win over Nevada on Wednesday. *> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ >ÀV ÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 31