Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer stalked off the Maples Pavilion hardwood after the nation’s No. 2 Cardinal defeated Washington 66-51 on Saturday. The Cardinal — 15-1 overall, 5-0 Pac-10 — hadn’t blown away the Huskies in the second half like it did in last year’s 112-35 tornado at Maples. Instead, the second half Saturday was a virtual stalemate, 31-30 in favor of Stanford.
“It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to see,” were the first words that came out of VanDerveer’s mouth in the postgame press conference. “I thought it was a disappointing effort compared to my expectations for how we wanted our team to play. We have a lot of work to do.”
So what’s ailing the Cardinal? Wasn’t it right after Stanford throttled now No. 3 Tennessee 67-52 on Dec. 19 that Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt dubbed the Cardinal “a Final Four” team? It hasn’t helped Stanford that it lost its point guard, Jeanette Pohlen to an ankle injury. Shooting guard JJ Hones, who can also play the point, rested her swollen knee. Taking two of the top three guards off one’s team can slow it down at both ends.
“The way I saw it was, ‘Let’s see what other people can do,'” VanDerveer said.
Guard Ros Gold-Onwude — who has started every game this season — set a career-high in minutes with 39, but had more turnovers (5) than assists (2). Guard Melanie Murphy, who played a season-high 30 minutes, had as many turnovers as assists (4). Guard Lindy La Rocque, a 3-point shooting specialist, was 0-4 from 3-point land and was summarily benched, playing only eight minutes.
I have confidence that these three guards can play better because I have seen them play better. I have confidence that Pohlen and Hones can play better, too.
Is the season all on Stanford guards? Of course not. But, it would be a lot to ask sophomore forward Nneka Ogwumike (19.3 ppg, 10 rebounds per game) and junior forward Kayla Pedersen (17.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg) to play any better than they have thus far.
Center Jayne Appel’s numbers are down from last season and I attribute that to her offseason knee surgery. Appel’s about right at her rebounds per game average from last season, but she’s only averaging 12.8 points per game compared to 16.1 a year ago. I’m not sure if Appel will totally recover physically by the end of the year.
In the meantime, Appel can work on incorporating three things: 1) Pump-faking. She has a tendency go to the hoop with her first move. Get the defender up in the air, then go up; 2) Go stronger to the basket. She often shoots fading away. In fact, all Stanford bigs can improve on this. It will also help them get to the free-throw line; 3) Use the backboard. Appel often shoots right at the rim.
VanDerveer bemoaned the lack of offensive boards — 11 — against Washington’s 2-3 zone. If the Cardinal doesn’t shoot well from the perimeter, they’ll see a truckload of zone defenses.
“Why did we have only 11 offensive boards?” VanDerveer asked. “Zone is a great opportunity to get on the O-boards.”
She also lamented Stanford’s number of steals — nine — when the Cardinal zoned up to protect Appel from fouling out: “Where are the deflections? Where is the aggressiveness? Where are the steals?”
I’m not sure what is ailing the Cardinal, but it’s nothing major. The talent is still there. It may just be a slight bug that is easily cured. Sounds like the players have recognized the symptoms because they don’t really like the way they are feeling right now.
“Everyone believes in each other, but we need that extra kick,” Ogwumike said. “We know what it is, but we’re kind of lost. It’s just sitting right in front of us. We just need to do it.”
“I expect the pace to be picked up in practice,” Gold-Onwude said. “That’s what it’s going to take to win. If it doesn’t happen, it’s going to happen after we lose, then we’ll get all rah-rah. We don’t want to lose.”
E-mail John Reid at                    jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.