Despite new leadership, Stanford provides stern test for Gonzaga women

Much has changed with the Stanford women’s basketball team since last season.

The Cardinal lost three significant starters, including graduate transfer Kiki Iriafen, a 6-foot-3 forward who averaged a team-leading 19.4 points and 11 rebounds per game. Iriafen landed at rising USC.

The most significant change, though, was the retirement of legendary coach Tara VanDerveer.

Those changes most likely explain why Stanford wasn’t voted into the preseason Top 25 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

None of it matters to Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier. Stanford is still Stanford. Fortier’s Zags (1-0) visit the Cardinal on Sunday. Tipoff in the nationally televised game on ESPN2 is at noon.

The Cardinal are off to an impressive 2-0 start, thumping Le Moyne of Syracuse, New York, 107-43 on Monday and following that with a runaway 94-65 win over Washington State on Thursday.

It should be a festive atmosphere at storied Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California, on Sunday when Stanford honors VanDerveer by unveiling Tara VanDerveer Court.

Fortier knows Stanford intentionally chose the game against Gonzaga to honor VanDerveer. Last year, Gonzaga handled then-No. 3-ranked Stanford 96-78 at McCarthey Athletic Center in early December. It was a springboard game for Gonzaga on its way to securing a fourth seed to the NCAA Tournament along with hosting first- and second-round games.

“That’s strategic,” Fortier said. “When we retired Courtney’s (Courtney Vandersloot) jersey, it was during the Portland game. It wasn’t just any old game. You pick those games when you can. They know exactly how they played us here last year and we know how we played, and we played really well.”

Fortier is happy for VanDerveer.

“It’s a well-deserved honor,” Fortier said. “I’m hoping to catch up a little bit with her when I’m down there. There’s going to be something extra (motivation) there for them. We have to be happy for her but also go out and play our game.”

Gonzaga has beaten Stanford once in Maples Pavilion. It came under Fortier in 2017.

It’s plainly obvious what Stanford’s strategy will be Sunday – 3-point shots early, often and in between. The Cardinal made a school-record 18 in their season opener Monday and followed up knocking down 14 of 20 in a runaway victory over visiting Washington State on Thursday.

The Cardinal are shooting 59.3% from 3-point range (32 of 54). Eight players have made 3s, so it’s not a case in which the Zags have to stifle one long-distance shooter.

“We have to make sure we’re following our (defensive) concepts,” Gonzaga fifth-year senior Yvonne Ejim said. “We’re scouting to defend the 3 and defending the 3 early in our system. Just sticking to those principles and knowing who we’re guarding, knowing who we are as defenders and knowing that everybody is going to help each other out will help us manage the 3-point line well.”

It’ll be Ejim’s fifth game against Stanford, the most of any Zag. Playing in Maples Pavilion will be new for seven Zags.

“Against Stanford you always have to not beat yourself,” Fortier said. “That’s one of the biggest keys. They’re going to scout you well and they’re going to try to make you outplay them. … If you beat yourself by not playing to who you are … then you’re going to be in trouble.”

Stanford is largely a new team. That doesn’t make any difference to Fortier.

“They just reload. It’s not a rebuild,” Fortier said. “(They) have good players in the queue and they’re ready to have their time.”