 |
WIGGINS: “I’ve worked
on some flash.” |
David Gonzales/Stanford Athletics |
On the team roster, Candice
Wiggins insists on the .5—as in
5’11.5” tall. As she slipped on socks over Cardinal-red
toenails for a recent workout, the shooting guard held
up a size-10.5 shoe. “And I’m sure I’m six
feet with these on.”
The two-time All-American and two-time
Pac-10 Player of the Year hardly needs a boost. As she
starts her junior year, Wiggins ranks 17th in Stanford
history in points scored, with 1,352. She tops the Cardinal
record book in points per game, averaging 19.6. And Wiggins
is third in program history in free-throw percentage, at
82.9 percent. “That
can go up,” she says, with more than a hint of mischief. “Way
up.”
Coming off a 26-8 (15-3 Pac-10) season that saw
a heartbreaking 62-59 loss to Louisiana State University
in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA championships last
year, the Cardinal is poised for greatness, Wiggins says. “When
I got here as a freshman, we had a really special senior
class: Susan King Borchardt, Kelley Suminski, Sebnem Kimyacioglu,
Azella Perryman, T’Nae Thiel. You knew it was going to
be a great year, and I can feel it this year.”
She isn’t
the only one. Stanford is ranked third in the Lindy’s
preseason poll and fourth in the Athlon poll. The Cardinal
returns several strong upperclassmen: senior guards Clare
Bodensteiner and Markisha Coleman, senior centers Brooke
Smith and Kristen Newlin, junior guard Cissy Pierce and
junior forward Christy Titchenal. The sophomores who ramped
up their experience as standout freshmen last year—Morgan
Clyburn, Rosalyn Gold-Onwude and Jillian Harmon—are welcoming
an equally capable recruiting class.
Jayne Appel, a 6-foot-4
forward from Pleasant Hills, Calif., helped the USA Basketball’s
Under-18 Women’s National
Team to a gold-medal win this summer. Michelle Harrison,
a 6-foot-3 forward from Orem, Utah, averaged 18 points
and 11 rebounds per game in high school, and also lettered
in track and field (high jump). “My jaw just falls on
the floor at the fact that she can dunk,” Wiggins says.
JJ Hones, aka “JJ Jumper,” a 5-foot-10 guard and
Gatorade State Player of the Year from Portland, Ore., “has
that leadership quality about her,” Wiggins says. And
she gives high marks to Melanie Murphy, a 5-foot-9 guard
from Brooklyn: “This girl is funny.”
The Cardinal
will need some good humor as they face a schedule that
head coach Tara VanDerveer is calling “one of the
toughest we have ever played.” Three Pac-10 opponents
are ranked in the top 25 this year. Nonconference challenges
include the 16-team preseason WNIT, a trip to powerhouse
Tennessee on November 24 and a game against fellow Elite
Eight finisher Utah at Maples Pavilion on December 16.
As
for Wiggins, she’s looking to unleash even more energy
on the court—and throw in a surprise or two. “I’ve
worked on some flash,” she says. “Not just for
the ‘wow’ factor, but in terms of not being predictable.
I’m not one of the players who was born with flash, but
I’ll have a few moves, a few tricks.” |
