Stanford Gets Double Dose Of Bad News

Stanford forward Vanessa Nygaard got the worst news she could hear Monday night. The anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee is torn.

There was even worse news for the Cardinal on Tuesday when Kristin Folkl injured her left knee in practice.

Folkl, who led Stanford to the NCAA volleyball championship and has seen the basketball team go 19-1 since joining it, left practice on crutches and was scheduled for an MRI on Tuesday night. The results will be known sometime on today.

Despite coming off the bench, the 6-foot-2 Folkl led the team with averages of 18.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. On Tuesday she was named second-team All-America by the Associated Press.

While the Cardinal is unsure of Folkl’s status, Nygaard, who will need surgery, has been told by Dr. Michael Dillingham she probably can play in the NCAA Women’s Tournament, which begins Saturday when the Cardinal hosts Harvard in a subregional game.

“The doctor said, ‘You blew your ACL, but …’ This is something I’m not going to pass up,” Nygaard said. “It’s not like I’m going to make a million dollars next year.”

If there is a bright side to the injury it is that the only damage in the knee is to the ACL, but Nygaard could risk further injury by playing even though she will be fitted for a special brace.

Nygaard, the team’s emotional leader, is Stanford’s third-leading scorer and rebounder and its top outside threat.

Sales’ record now looks more flimsy

The controversy over Nykesha Sales’ scoring record won’t go away.

The staged basket that put Sales in the record books may have been meaningless because she was wrongly credited for two points in an earlier game at Seton Hall, according to the premiere issue of ESPN The Magazine.

However, Seton Hall - which didn’t find out about the possible scoring discrepancy until Tuesday - said it won’t change the box score it kept for its Jan. 22 game against UConn that gave Sales 25 points.

“That’s what our stat crew put down and that’s what we’re standing by,” said Maria Wozniak, a spokeswoman for Seton Hall’s athletic department.

So that means that as far as the Pirates, the Huskies and the NCAA are concerned, it appears Sales will keep the hotly debated school scoring record of 2,178 points - for now.

“This is so unbelievable how one collegiate career record is taking on this life of its own,” said Jim Wright, director of statistics for the NCAA. “I can’t believe it.”

ESPN The Magazine, acting on a tip, reviewed a videotape of the UConn-Seton Hall game and found that a layup made by Kelly Hunt was incorrectly put on the books as a basket for Sales.

It would have been a harmless oversight, the magazine said, if Sales hadn’t ruptured her Achilles’ tendon in the next-to-last game of the regular season, two points shy of the record.

Sales, hobbled by her career-ending injury, took an uncontested layup at the start of the Villanova-UConn game, eclipsing Kerry Bascom’s scoring record and sparking a national debate about the integrity of women’s basketball.

According to ESPN The Magazine, Sales actually was four points short of the record when she took that shot.

Tech star finds help

Alicia Thompson is well aware her stats aren’t what they were from a year ago. And she couldn’t be happier.

Texas Tech’s All-America forward knows she spent way too much time carrying the Raiders last year. She also knew her team wouldn’t go far this season with two or three players guarding her every game.

“We all understood we were a young team and still had lots to learn,” said Thompson, one of only two upperclassmen on last year’s squad. “We knew this year would be different.”

Better guard play, a new frontcourt player and a year’s worth of experience have paid off.

The addition of 6-foot-3 junior college transfer Angie Braziel gives Tech an inside presence along with the 6-1 Thompson. There’s also a trio of dangerous guards who can shoot or pass.

As hosts of the Midwest Regional finals, they could have four straight NCAA Tournament games at home, as long as they beat No. 16 seed Grambling on Friday and keep on winning.

“We expect that ourselves,” Thompson said.