Stanford Holds Off Arizona 54-53 to Win Women’s NCAA Basketball Title

SAN ANTONIO - Tara VanDerveer hugged each of her Stanford players as they climbed the ladder to cut down the nets, capping a taxing whirlwind journey and ending an exhaustive women’s college basketball championship drought for the Cardinal. 

It took 29 years, that included 10 weeks on the road this season because of the coronavirus, for VanDerveer and the Cardinal to be crowned the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s basketball champions again.   “We had some special karma going for us,” VanDerveer said. “Sometimes you have to be lucky. I’ll admit it, we were very fortunate to win.”  Haley Jones scored 17 points and Stanford beat Arizona 54-53 Sunday night, giving the Cardinal and their Hall of Fame coach their first national championship since 1992.