Dave Trimmer

TAMPA, Fla. – Walking off the basketball court at the St. Pete Times Forum late Sunday night, all Angie Bjorklund could say was, "I can't even believe." It is hard to believe the Tennessee freshman from University High School is going to be in the championship game of the NCAA tournament after the Lady Vols' dramatic 47-46 over win over snake-bit Southeastern Conference rival Louisiana State.

TAMPA, Fla. – Angie Bjorklund started every game except Senior Night in the first 31 games for the storied Tennessee women's basketball team. Cool.

Home is where the heart is. That seems to be the bottom line for Katelan Redmon, who made her transfer from Washington official by turning in her enrollment papers to Gonzaga on Wednesday and will join the basketball team at the end of the semester.

At least Candice Wiggins shared the box of chocolates. Wiggins, called "all that and a box of chocolates" for her amazing play, showed exactly what that meant when she poured in 41 points to lead Stanford to a stirring 98-87 win over Maryland in the Spokane Region championship game before 6,821 fans at the Arena on Monday night.

Two teams hoping to rebound from disappointing endings to the 2007 season will have to rebound to keep that from happening again. Top-seeded Maryland and second-seeded Stanford, both 33-3, square off tonight at 6:30 in the championship game of the Spokane Regional.

Vanderbilt may have been trying to make like the Maryland of old – a young, fearless, nothing-to-lose underdog winner in the NCAA women's basketball tournament – but it's tough to copy the original. Bigger, stronger and faster, top-seeded Maryland dominated the fourth-seeded Commodores 80-66 Saturday night in the Sweet 16 at the Arena with a tough inside game and a smothering, switching defense.

Heidi VanDerveer's father once told her that the game of basketball would take her nowhere. "He was usually right, but not that time," said VanDerveer, the former head women's basketball coach at Eastern Washington University, who is back in town this week with the Stanford University team that is competing in the semifinals of the 2008 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship's Spokane Region at the Arena.

Great basketball player? Check. Great teammate? Check.

When Maryland basketball coach Brenda Frese gave birth to twin boys last month it made national news and she took a couple of weeks off. "I read where Brenda has a nanny," Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato, a mother of five, said. "I still don't have a cleaning lady. Are you kidding me? I never took maternity leave. I wonder what I was thinking." That really says more about the changes in women's basketball than it does about working mothers, including the two high-profile coaches in town this weekend for the Spokane Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Stanford is all about numbers. The Cardinal have been to 22 NCAA women's basketball tournaments, including the last 21.

The recent success of the Shadle Park girls track team can be traced to the convergence of two similar athletes with opposite demeanors and destinations. But the Highlanders' final reward probably won't be determined until their last meet together in late May on the John Crawford Track at Pasco's Edgar Brown Stadium.

With three trips to the Final Four among the memories of her five years as a Stanford basketball player, Regan Freuen Drew's reaction to The Question is understandable. "Oh," the Mead girls basketball coach said with a sigh, "the thing everyone wants to bring up every year."

Of the NCAA-record 3,393 points Jackie Stiles scored in her four-year basketball career at Missouri State, only 73 came in Spokane. Yet that long weekend in the Lilac City remains the highlight of her young life.

Looks can be deceiving. Gonzaga, sporting a 25-8 record and 41 in the NCAA RPI, faces Colorado (16-14, 85) tonight in the second-round of the Women's NIT in Boulder, Colo.

Actions speak louder than words. Four days after being snubbed by the NCAA, Gonzaga routed UC Davis 81-60 in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament before 1,718 fans at McCarthey Athletic Center Thursday night.

Tara VanDerveer may have been unhappy her Stanford team was seeded second in the Spokane Regional of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, but Marie Clemons more than made up for it. Of course Clemons would have been ecstatic if Maryland were a 16 seed instead of the No. 1, as long as the Terrapins have the chance to make it to Spokane if they win their first two games.

The spacious Gonzaga locker room was like a small cage and Bulldogs women's basketball coach Kelly Graves was the tiger, pacing endlessly late Monday afternoon. The occasion was the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on ESPN and though he knew the odds were against his team hearing its name called he held out hope it would get invited to the Big Dance.