Nneka's favorite Christmas

Nneka blogs, "in the midst of basketball season, it's easy to forget about the holiday season ... read more...

Nicole settles into coaching role

Nicole wasn't looking to immediately start a coaching career. But Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves couldn't be happier with his first-year assistant.

Michelle Smith (espnW) tells how it came to pass and how Nicole is doing in her new position on the sideline. Read here...

Joslyn's double-double lands her Player of the Week award

Jos had a very impressive game in the last round for UNI Gyor and received a Eurobasket.com Player of the Week award for round 5.

She had a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds in a game between two of the league's top four teams. She had a remarkable 55.6% from 2-point range and was a perfect 10 for 10 at the free throw line. She also had five steals and three assists.

After two Hungarian League games, she averages 19.0ppg and 12.5rpg. In EuroLeague Women competition, after five games, she averages 11.0ppg and 6.5rpg.

Click here for the complete Eurobasket News report.

Candice playing in Israel

Jānis Kacēns (lovewomensbasketball) reports:

After the humiliating loss last week to Elizur Ramla, Israeli club Maccabi Ashdod has decided to shake up the roster by signing American guard Candice Wiggins to replace Tamera Young who was released, one.co.il reports. In four games with the club this season Young has averaged 8.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Wiggins has played for three teams in Europe – Sony Athinaikos in Greece, Ros Casares in Spain and in 2011/12 season for Besiktas in Turkey where she averaged 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. This season in the WNBA wiggins averaged 10.1 points (36% FG), 2.9 rebounds and 2 assists per game.

Jos writes from Hungary

Jos has written a long blog for Seattle Storm Basketball to report how things are going for her after her first week in Hungary.

Read here.

Alumnae Abroad: 2013-14 season

Oct 31: Updated Candice's info.

Nine Cardinal alumnae are playing pro ball in the 2013-14 season in three continents — Australia, Asia and Europe.

Australia

Kayla Pedersen ('11) is in Australia [map] playing for the Dandenong Rangers.

The Australian WNBL league began play early in October, and the Rangers have made a very strong start with five wins.

Kayla is in the starting five. She has averaged 13.6 ppg and leads the team in rebounds (7.0 rpg) and blocks (0.6 bpg).

Asia

In Asia, the national teams are competing this week in the FIBA Asia Championship for a place in the FIBA 2014 World Championship games.

The club team schedules for the 2013-14 season haven't been posted yet, but I expect that play will begin early in November.

Jayne Appel ('10) is in China [map] again, playing for the Henan Elephants Dandong Liaoning.

This is Jayne's second season with Henan in China, and she just departed for China yesterday.

Nneka Ogwumike ('12) is in China [map] playing for the Guangdong Dolphins.

Nneka departed for China a week ago and tweeted that she got a wonderful welcome and was, "getting settled in quite nice for an exciting season!"

If you look at the Guangdong website for information about Nneka, you need to know that Google and Chrome translate her name to "Enka Di · Otto Hu Mick".

Europe

There are two international professional basketball leagues in Europe for women’s clubs — EuroLeague Women (the premier league) and EuroCup Women (the second-caliber league). Round 1 play for both leagues begins next week.

Most of the national club team leagues have already begun play.

Joslyn Tinkle ('12) is in Hungary [map] playing for Hat-Agro Uni Gyor. She's the first Stanford alumna to ever play in Hungary.

Uni Gyor is the team whose bus crashed en route to a preseason game on September 7. The team's manager and the head coach died. One player had her leg amputated, and two others have not returned to the team.

Uni Gyor just signed Courtney Vandersloot too and now have nine healthy players on the roster. Read more in Uni Gyor go with Vandersloot and Tinkle.

Uni Gyor is scheduled to play in EuroLeague Women for the third straight season as well as in the Hungarian A Division. Its first EuroLeague game is on November 7th and its first Hungarian League game on December 1.

Sarah Boothe ('12) worked with a trainer this summer to overcome the foot problems that plagued her at Stanford and has achieved her hope to play pro ball. She's in Poland [map] playing for Widzew Lodz.

Widzew has started the season poorly with six losses. Sarah has played in the last three games and averaged 3.7 ppg and 6.3 rpg.

Jillian Harmon ('09) is in Italy [map] playing for Lavezzini Parma for the second season.

Parma has begun its season with two wins and a loss.

Jillian is in the starting five. She's the leading scorer (19.0 ppg) and second-best rebounder (9.3 rpg).

Kristen Newlin/Nevin Nevlin('07) is in Turkey [map] playing for Fenerbahce for the sixth season.

Fenerbahce is one of the two teams that dominate the Turkish Women's Basketball League (TKBL). They've been the league champion seven times and the runner-up once in the past eight seasons. They're playing in Euroleague Women, for the eighth straight season. They reached the semi-finals in 2012 and the finals in 2013. Basketball journalist Paul Nilsen predicts, "Fabulous roster and coach means possible repeat Final with UMMC."

In a pre-season competition, Fenerbache defeated Galatasary to win the TKBL President's cup. They began the season with a loss, then won the next two games.

Kristen played only in the second game of the season.

Sebnem Kimyacioglu ('05) is not yet pursuing a law career and is in Turkey [map] playing for Galatasaray again.

Galatasaray is the other team that dominates the Turkish Women's Basketball League (TKBL). They suffered a major setback late last season with the loss of Lindsey Whalen, their top scorer. They finished second in the TKBL, lost the TKBL championship to Fenerbahce and finished eighth in EuroLeague Women.

After losing to Fenerbahce in the President's Cup, Galatsaray won its first three regular season games.

Seb has made six of eleven three-point attempts and averaged 7.0 ppg.

Cori Enghusen/Korel Engin ('02) is playing her twelfth season of professional basketball, her ninth in Turkey. She's in southern Turkey [map] this season, playing with Tarsus Belediyesi.

Tarsus has been in the middle or bottom tier of the Turkish league for the past few seasons. They played in EuroLeague Women last season and didn't make it past the first round. They're playing in EuroCup Women this season for the first time. They've lost their first three Turkish League games.

Cori is in the starting five. She's averaged six rebounds and five points per game.

Not playing

These five Cardinal alumnae who played abroad recently aren't this season:

Jeanette Pohlen ('11) tore her ACL just over a year ago and played in only 13 games with the Indiana Fever last summer. So she's probably focussing on strength and conditioning and enjoying her adorable new puppy.

Michelle Harrison ('10) never fully recovered from the knee injury she suffered in her sophomore year at Stanford. She tried playing pro ball last season, but has now retired and is trying to save her knee.

Candice Wiggins ('08) didn't play overseas last season because, "It's cool to relax and enjoy life. I'm 25 years old." She apparently made the same decision this season. is conducting basketball camps and serving as an ambassador for AIDS support and women's basketball. She's way too busy to play pro ball this season. CWiggins' World.

Cissy Pierce ('08) is still in Germany, but no longer playing pro ball – at least, not this season.

Nicole Powell ('04) had contracted to play in South Korea, but has taken a different path and is now an assistant coach at Gonzaga.

Olympia inducted into Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame

Olympia Scott  is one of the eight Stanford athletes who were inducted into the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday night.  She is the ninth women's basketball player to be so honored.

This is her Hall of Fame bio:

Olympia Scott ’98, women’s basketball: Scott, one of the key figures during Stanford’s three Final Four runs in the mid-90s, finished her Cardinal career ranked among the top 10 of numerous statistical categories. Upon graduation Scott ranked second in field-goal percentage (53.4), fifth in rebounds (753) and seventh in points scored (1,524). Those numbers remain high on the Cardinal all-time lists today, with her field-goal percentage seventh, rebounding total 11th and scoring total 13th. A two-time All-Pac-10 selection, Scott was named to the 1997 NCAA West Regional All-Tournament Team en route to being named All-America honorable mention from the Associated Press.

Scott went on to participate in the 1997 World University Games, winning a gold medal with Team USA in Sicily, and in 1998 was selected to represent Stanford at the inaugural WBCA All-Star Game.

Jayne & Nneka invited to USABB mini-camp

Jayne and Nneka are among the 33 athletes who have accepted an invitation to attend the 2013 USA Women’s National Team mini-camp Oct. 4-6 at the Cox Pavilion practice gym at the UNLV campus in Las Vegas.

The camp will be used to identify players for the USA National Team pool, from which the 2014 USA World Championship Team will be selected.

Here's the whole story and the roster.

Jayne and Nneka have each been a member of three USA Basketball championship teams.

Jayne won gold medals at the 2010 FIBA World Championship,  the 2007 Pan-Am games, and the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.  She is a member of the current USA Women's National Team -- this is her bio.

Nneka won gold at the 2011 FISU Women's World University Games, the 2009 FIBA U19 Championship and the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.  This is her USA Basketball bio.

Nneka flips for basketball

In espnW's "Girl Meets Game" series, Mackenzie Lobby writes about Nneka's love of basketball: Nneka Ogwumike flips for basketball.

Nicole to coach at Gonzaga

Congratulations to Nicole on her fabulous first coaching job!

Gonzaga Athletics announced today that Nicole has been hired as an assistant coach with the Bulldogs. She'll join the staff after the WNBA season concludes.

Jos signs contract with the Seattle Storm

Jos has begun her professional basketball career.

The Seattle Storm contacted her on Thursday. She flew to Seattle for a physical, and worked out with the Storm’s strength and conditioning coach – Susan King Borchardt – on Saturday.

On Saturday evening, she signed a seven-day contract with the Storm and then flew to San Antonio to join the team for its next two games against the Silver Stars.

The Storm have just eight more games left in the season and are looking to secure a playoff spot this week. They're in fourth place in the Western Conference, just 1/2 a game behind Phoenix and well ahead of San Antonio and Tulsa.

The Storm have played without stars Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird all season. During their game on Friday vs Phoenix, guard Tameka Johnson was hit in the face and sat out the fourth quarter. It has been reported that she did not suffer a concussion and was held out as a precaution.

With her seven-day contract, Jos will have a chance to see action today and Tuesday in San Antonio, on Thursday in Seattle vs Connecticut, and on Saturday in Minnesota. None of those games will be on national TV, but you can see them on WNBA Live Access.

You can find more information about Jos' signing and the Seattle Storm here:

• Tinkle Signs With Storm from Stanford Athletics
• Joslyn Tinkle signs with WNBA's Seattle Storm from The Missoulian
• Storm-Silver Stars Preview from the Associated Press
• Standings from the WNBA

Jeanette returns to the court

Here's Jeanette ready to make her season debut in the Indiana vs Chicago game on Saturday.

This was Jeanette's first appearance on the court since she tore her ACL in last year's WNBA Finals. She scored seven points in 16 minutes of play on two-of-three field goals, one of them a three-pointer, and two-of-two free throws.

"Obviously, the nerves kicked in a little bit when I first went out there,” she said. “But I'm just so blessed, so grateful to have everybody here supporting me. I was ready. It's been a while.”

"Come on down!" Jos

Whatever it was, Joslyn Tinkle got the attention of “The Price Is Right” producers and earned a coveted spot to “come on down” as a contestant on ... the popular TV game show.

The episode will be aired on Friday, August 16.

Click here for a full report from the Missoulian.

Spreading the hoops gospel

Sports journalist Jane McManus has written a series of stories for espnW about being inspired through sports.

"Spreading the hoops gospel" is about the clinics that Shelley Nweke ('06) and Morgan Clyburn ('09) hosted in Suriname a couple of years ago.

Watch again Lauren Greif's video about the clinics:

What's new with hoopster alumnae

I've completed my annual review of the hoopster alumnae files and found the following major changes. If you have corrections or more information about hoopster alumnae, please post it as a comment to this blog or send it to me.

Clare Bodensteiner, 2007

Clare changed jobs last year when Sheryl Swoopes was named the new head coach at Loyola. Clare had been an assistant coach at Loyola for three seasons. She is now a product manager at Wilson Sporting Goods in Chicago. She also made a major change in her personal life – she got married in June.

Sarah Dimson, 2001

Sarah is furthering her career as an urban planner by studying for a Master in City Planning at MIT Department of Urban Studies & Planning. She expects to get the degree in 2014, and hopes to implement regional and city planning solutions in East Africa through her private development firm.

Bethany Donaphin, 2002

Bethany got her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania last year. She has moved to San Francisco, where she is a senior consultant at Deloitte LLP.

Kelly Dougherty Stallworth, 1995

Kelly, who has been a teacher and fitness trainer for many years is now the executive director of the Georgia Red Storm, an AAU Basketball organization.

Cori Enghusen, 2002

Cori, who has played professional basketball for eleven years, is preparing for life after basketball. She's studying online for an MBA in the Kenin-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.

Debi Gore-Mann, 1982

Debi is the Chief Development Officer for the Cal Alumni Association.

Susan King Borchardt, 2005

Susan is continuing her Exercise Science career in Washington. She's the Sports Performance Manager for the Seattle Storm.

Lindy La Rocque, 2012

Lindy is a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma and a graduate assistant with Sooners Women's Basketball.

Melanie Murphy, 2011

Mel is the girls' varsity basketball coach at Gunn High School in Palo Alto. She also coaches basketball for Team Life Skills and works at TrialPay, a transactional advertising business. And in her spare time ...

Vanessa Nygaard, 1998

In addition to her achievements as head coach of girls' varsity basketball at Windward School in Los Angeles, Vanessa is now the mother of three – she had twins in November last year.

Kayla Pedersen, 2011

Kayla was traded to the Connecticut Sun by the Tulsa Shock two weeks ago. It is expected that she'll get more playing time with the Sun than she did at Tulsa.

Nicole Powell, 2004

Nicole was traded to the Tulsa Shock by the New York Liberty at the beginning of this season. She's averaging 9.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game – her best since the Sacramento Monarchs folded four years ago.

Amanda Renteria, 1997

Amanda recently completed a five-year stint as chief of staff to Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow. It has been rumored for several weeks that President Obama is going to nominate her to head the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Brooke Smith, 2007

Brooke is studying to be a Physician's Assistant.

Chelsea Trotter, 2004

Chelsea is still practicing law in Southern California. She is now a litigation associate with Nossaman LLP

Val Whiting, 1993

Val has moved across the country from Delaware to Washington. She's left the Sports world and works as a Development Coordinator/Marketing Specialist for Cobalt Mortgage in greater Seattle.

Candice Wiggins, 2008

Candice was traded to the Tulsa Shock by the Minnesota Lynx at the beginning of this season. She is the Shock's starting shooting guard and averages 9.8 points, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Kayla traded to Connecticut

The Connecticut Sun announced today that it has acquired Kayla from the Tulsa Shock in exchange for its second round pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft.

Click here for the announcement and here for an analysis of the trade from Swish Appeal

Candice honors her dad on Father's Day

Candice honors her dad on Father's Day:

My dad gave me many gifts

and shares this lovely family photo:

Six alumnae open up 2013 WNBA season

Stanford Athletics reports on the six alumnae who will represent Stanford women's basketball as the WNBA tips off its 17th season tonight. Click here for more.

Bobbie and Vanessa are court coaches for USA Basketball

Bobbie Kelsey (Stanford '97) and Vanessa Nygaard (Stanford '98) have been chosen as court coaches by USA Basketball. As such, they will will assist the coaching staff during trials.

Bobbie will serve as court coach for 2013 USA Basketball Women’s U19 World Championship And World University Games Team Trials, which will take place May 16-19.

She said, "These are committee-selected positions, so for the committee to see my value in adding me to the trials and participating in that way as a coach is quite an honor. I feel privileged to be looked at in that light."

Click here for more information.

Vanessa will serve as court coach for 2013 USA Basketball Women’s U16 National Team Trials, which will be held May 23-27.

She said, "I am honored and excited to be chosen as a court coach ... I look forward to helping develop the next generation of great USA Basketball players.”

Click here for more information.

Jeanette's rehab is on track

Here is a very brief report from Jeanette about the progress of her rehabilitation from surgery to repair the ACL she tore last October.

Fresh start for Candice and Nicole

Michelle Smith (espnW) reports on one of the WNBA's biggest offseason trade deals — a fresh start for Candice and Nicole in Tulsa, a team that needs veteran leadership and championship experience.

They join Kayla in "Stanford South".

Candice comments, "When I was a freshman in high school, Nicole was a huge part of the reason I wanted to go to Stanford. I never thought I'd be playing with her. And I get to play with Kayla again, the most reliable post I ever played with."

Read more...

Alumnae Abroad, 2012-13 season-end report

The 2012-13 season is over for the ten Stanford alumnae playing abroad. Here is how they did — youngest to oldest:

Nneka Ogwumike ('12), CCC Polkowice

Nneka finished her rookie professional year with a flourish as CCC Polkowice swept the best-of-seven Polish PLKK finals against archrival Wisla Can-Pak and won the Gold for the first time. Nneka tallied a double-double in each of the last three games of the finals.

Polkowice was also the PLKK regular season champion with a 17-1 win-loss record. Nneka ranked #1 in the PLKK in scoring (18.3 ppg), #2 in rebounds (9.3 rpg) and #8 in steals (2.0 spg)

Polkowice, in just its second appearance in EuroLeague Women, made it to the Final Eight.

A profile of the team in EuroLeague Women news mentions Nneka as "one of the revelations of the season" and credits her shooting range as one of the most important elements of the Polkowice's success, "since she has stepped beyond the three-point line on a regular basis and with great success."

In the EuroLeague games, Nneka led Polkowice in scoring (17.5 ppg), rebounds (7.8 rpg) and steals (2.1 spg). She took only 12% of her shots from beyond the arc, but made 48% of them. She also made 90.3% of her free throws — the best in the competition. She ranked in the top 20 in 15 statistical categories.

Nneka was named the Euroleague.com All-Polish PLKK Player of the Year, Center of the Year and Import Player of the Year.

Kayla Pedersen ('11), Ceyhan Belediyespor

Ceyhan finished 8th (of 14) in the Turkey TKBL league with a 12-14 win-loss record and ended its season with a loss to Fenerbahce in the quarterfinals of the TKBL league playoffs.

Kayla ranked #6 in the TKBL in rebounds (9.3 rpg), #7 in steals (1.8 spg) and #9 in blocks (0.7 bpg). She was the third-best scorer on her team (11.3 ppg) and tallied eight double-doubles.

Kayla posted to her blog four times while in Ceyhan, recounting how much she enjoyed being a basketball player in Turkey.

Jayne Appel ('10), Henan Elephants

Henan finished 11th (of 12) in the China WCBA League with a 6-16 win-loss record — a step up from last season when it finished last.

Jayne was a standout member of the team. She was Henan's leading scorer (26.9 ppg, third in the league), rebounder (15.4 rpg, first in the league), shot blocker (2.0 bpg, second in the league), and thief (1.9 spg, seventh in the league).

Jayne was named to the Eurobasket.com All-Chinese WCBA 2nd team and to the All-Imports team.

Michelle Harrison ('10), Terpsithea Glyfadas

Michelle began her professional basketball career this season in Switzerland with Uni Basel. Although she was leading the team statistically after 12 games (20.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.4 apg, 2.4 spg), Basel released her for reasons that have not been clearly stated publicly. One report hinted of interpersonal discord; another that the manager was under duress to improve performance and the easiest thing to do was release the non-national.

Whatever ... Michelle signed with Terpsithea a month later and finished the season in Greece. Terpsithea placed ninth (of 12) in the Greece-A1 league with a 7-15 win-loss record.

Michelle played in the starting five for seven games with Terpsithea, led the team in rebounds (9.6 rpg), and was their second-best scorer (13.7 ppg).

Jillian Harmon ('09), Lavezzini Parma

Parma finished third in the Italy A1 league with a 13-5 win-loss record — its best in many years — and ended its season with a loss to Lucca in the semifinals of the A1 playoffs.

Jillian was a major factor in her team's success. She was Parma's second-best scorer (14.4 ppg, #7 in the league) and rebounder (7.9 rpg, #6 in the league). She had six double-doubles.

Jillian was named to the Euroleague.com All-Italian A1 Second Team and to the All-Imports Team.

Cissy Pierce ('08), Gruner Stern Keltern

After playing three years of professional basketball in Germany, Cissy began the 2012-13 season in Luxembourg. She left that team after a month and returned to Germany, where she signed with Keltern, a team in the second German national league, Bundesliga.

Keltern finished third (of 11) in the South Group of Bundesliga with a 13-7 win-loss record and ended its season with a loss in the semifinals of the Bundesliga playoffs.

Cissy played as a reserve for Bundesliga. She averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. She didn't attempt many 3-point shots and made just four in the 20 games she played for Keltern. She may not have fully recovered yet from the shoulder dislocation she suffered last season.

Kristen Newlin/Nevin Nevlin ('07), Fenerbahce

Fenerbahce had an outstanding, but not quite perfect, season.

It finished first in the Turkey TKBL league with a 24-2 win-loss record and won the TKBL championship for the eighth consecutive season. Fenerbahce and archrival Galatasary have now each won the title eleven times.

Fenerbahce made it to the Final Four of EuroLeague Women for the second consecutive year and, for the first time, advanced to the championship game where it lost to highly-favored UMMC Ekaterinburg 82-56.

Kristen, in her fifth season with Fenerbahce, is described in her EuroLeague bio as "a seasoned performer who is powerful under the hoop, has a decent mid-range game, is strong on the glass and can match up well defensively with opponents".

She averaged 4.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.4 blocks in the Turkish league games and 2.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.1 assists and 0.1 blocks in the EuroLeague games.

Sebnem Kimyacioglu ('05), Galatasaray

Galatasaray, Turkey's other powerhouse team, suffered a major setback in February when its leading scorer Lindsey Whalen left the team over an alleged salary dispute. It finished second in the Turkish league with a 21-5 win-loss record and lost the TKBL championship to Fenerbahce.

In spite of Whalen's departure, Galatasaray placed fourth in its group in EuroLeague Women and advanced to the second round, but lost all three of its games there.

Seb averaged 3.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists in the Turkish league games and 2.7 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.2 assists in the EuroLeague games. She was one of Galatasaray's most dependable three-point shooters, making almost 40% of her attempts in the Turkish league games and 30% in EuroLeague Women.

Nicole Powell ('04), Perfumerias Avenida

The season began badly for Avenida. Midway through the first round of EuroLeague Women, it was next-to-last in its group with a 2-6 win-loss record. This was a bitterly disappointing position for the team that had been the EuroLeague Women champion in 2011.

In an attempt to reach the top again, Avenida replaced its head coach. A few days later, it terminated Nicole's contract, citing off-court disciplinary reasons as being the main foundation for the decision. (Click here for more.)

Nicole contested the charge, and Avenida subsequently withdrew its allegations of unprofessional behavior. (Click here for more.)

Cori Enghusen/Korel Engin ('02), Botasspor Adana

Botas finished 10th (of 14) in the Turkey TKBL league with a 10-16 win-loss record.

Cori, in her 11th season of professional basketball, came off the bench for about eight minutes per game. She averaged 1.7 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.1 blocks per game.

Jennifer Azzi thanks Title IX

As part of the West Coast Conference Thanks Title IX campaign, the WCC launched its "Nine In Nine" video series, which features personal stories of WCC student-athletes, coaches and administrators from each of the WCC's nine institutions over nine months.

This month's video features University of San Francisco's Head Women's Basketball Coach Jennifer Azzi.

Vanessa is LA Times Coach of the Year

The Los Angeles Times has named Vanessa Nygaard (1998) the Southern California girls’ basketball coach of the year.

Vanessa is head coach of Girls Varsity Basketball at Windward School in Los Angeles. She led the team to 32 straight victories this season and a Southern Section Division 4AA championship.

She accomplished that after having given birth to twins in November two weeks before practice started.

Click here for the LA times article.

10 things Azella wishes she'd known before getting her MBA

Azella Perryman (2005) graduated from Harvard Business School almost two years ago and ponders, "I'm an MBA...now what?" in her blog Navigating Life After the MBA

Kate Starbird chooses a different route

Jayda Evans (Seattle Times) has written about the paths chosen by former women basketball players with Seattle connections.

Kate Starbird is:

... a first-year assistant professor in UW's Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering and director of the Emerging Capacities of Mass Participation laboratory. In English, that means she teaches how social media is used in crisis situations and how to design better applications for digital volunteers.

The only basketball souvenirs in her office are dreamy Mediterranean photos from her time playing pro ball in Ibiza, at the end of her career ...

Click here for the article.

Nicole and Candice traded to Tulsa Shock

Unless more trades ensue, three Stanford greats will be teammates in Tulsa this season — Nicole Powell 2000-04, Candice Wiggins 2004-08 and Kayla Pedersen 2007-11.

The Tulsa Shock has acquired Nicole from the New York Liberty and Candice from the Minnesota Lynx. Click here for the Associated Press report.

Nicole graduated from Stanford the year that Candice arrived. Candice and Kayla played together for one season — Candice's senior year and Kayla's freshman year. They shared the first win over Tennessee in eleven years and the loss to Tennessee in the NCAA championship game.

One Nnek of a Year

Anthony Oliva (WNBA.com) writes of Nneka's first year as a professional basketball player:

"Just 11 months ago, Nneka Ogwumike was playing for Stanford and preparing to play in her fourth consecutive Final Four."

"Since then, the L.A. Sparks forward who’s currently starring half a world away for CCC Polkowice in Poland during the WNBA offseason, has been living in fast-forward."

Read more...

Rookie Ogwumike revered in Polkowice

FIBA EuroLeague Women has posted a nice story about Nneka's success as a professional basketball player in Europe:

"Hailed in some quarters as one of the best to have ever played women's college basketball, Nnemkadi Ogwumike parachuted into EuroLeague Women last October and has managed to live up to expectations."

Click here for the rest of the story.

Click here for Nneka 's EuroLeague profile.

Dons finding success under Azzi

In Jennifer Azzi's third year as head coach at the University of San Francisco, the Dons began the season with wins over the University of Hawaii and UC Davis.

Now, halfway through the WCC conference season, their record is 9-13 — a huge improvement over the prior two seasons when they went 5-25 and 4-25.

Jennifer discussed the progress of her team in this halftime interview with Comcast:

Huge win for Bobbie's Badgers

In their best game since Bobbie Kelsey became head coach last season, the University of Wisconsin Beavers defeated No. 7/8 Penn State by two points in overtime last night.

"It's huge for our team," said head coach Bobbie Kelsey after the game. "It's huge for our confidence, it's huge for our program. To beat a ranked team, a very highly ranked team, it shows our kids that — a lot of people say that 'You don't have anything.' — no, we have plenty."

It appears that Bobbie's intensity has not dimmed since she left Stanford!

Read more:

• Morgan Paige scores career-high 33 in Wisconsin win over Penn State from the Associated Press
• Lion Tamers: Badgers upset No. 7 Penn State at Kohl Center from UW Badgers Athletics