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Sophomore Randie Wirt's late steal and free throws helped the Buffaloes defeat Stanford in the 2002 Sweet 16.

Story by Ryan Thorburn
Boulder Daily Camera
(March 24, 2002)

BOISE, Idaho. -- The Buffs are making a little noise in Boise.

Colorado pulled of a mild 62-59 upset over Stanford on Saturday night at the Boise State Pavilion to advance to the Elite Eight for the third time under Ceal Barry’s watch.

But when you examine the season as a whole it’s really not a typical March shocker often seen in the NCAA Tournaments.

The 12th-ranked Buffs (24-9), seeded third in the West Region, had played 14 ranked opponents entering the regional semifinal. The Cardinal (32-3), No. 5 in the polls and No. 2 in the West, had faced one top 25 team and lost that game to Tennessee.

Now CU will face No. 1 seed Oklahoma (30-3) in the regional final on Monday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN2) which means a Big 12 team will be in the Final Four for the first time the six-year history of the league.

“I think our kids are excited about being that Big 12 team,” Barry said. “We haven’t really been talked about as being that team. That motivation worked for us tonight.”

CU survives and advances despite some brutal masonry work on the offensive end. The Buffs shot 38.2 percent from the floor but made all 10 free throws in the second half.

None were bigger than the two Randie Wirt made with eight seconds remaining to put CU up by three points.

“I was a little bit jittery at fist,” said Wirt, who had stolen the ball on the baseline to prevent the game-winning shot opportunity for the Cardinal before getting fouled.

Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer called a timeout to give Wirt some extra time to think about her situation. A decision that backfired.

“I think it helped (Wirt),” Barry said. “It was as tough a situation as there is, but an envious situation too for an athlete.”

At the end of practices leading up the Sweet 16, Barry would select a player and put her at the foul line with these words - “Regional semifinals against Stanford, down by two.”

If the selected player made the free throws the practice was over. A miss and the whole team was running.

This time the game was over when Lindsey Yamasaki’s desperation 3-pointer missed badly at the buzzer.

The Buffs wanted so badly to come out running, but made only 4 of their first 22 shots from the field. Yet they trailed only 17-11.

“Once we settled down and ran our offense and swung the ball around we were getting better shots,” said sophomore center Tera Bjorklund, who scored 10 of her 17 points in the second half. “They definitely have two good post players and I knew they were going to be physical and tough inside.”

The Cardinal went without a field goal for 8:32 but cut its deficit to 26-25 when Yamasaki scored her first points with 1:01 left in the first half. Jenny Roulier did a great job locking her up but was banished to the bench in the second half after making only three of the 11 shots she took.

Bethany Donaphin, who highlighted the dismal halftime stat sheet with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, hit a nice floater in the lane with five seconds left to tie the score 27-27.

CU finished the first 20 minutes 9-for-30 (30 percent) from the field to Stanford’s 9-for-23 (39.1 percent) effort.

Mandy Nightingale and Sabrina Scott each turned ankles in the first half but continued to play.

“(Nightingale) is such a competitor, but I didn’t like the look on her face,” said Barry, whose point guard was 0-for-5 from the field and struggled moving laterally to her right on defense. “It took away some of our energy.”

Scott’s injury looked more severe but she seemed to step up her play after the ankle was taped up. The junior forward hit two key 3-pointers and yanked down a game-high 10 rebounds.

The legendary coaching rivals/friends called a total of seven timeouts in the final 2:02.

“Ultimately the kids have to win the game,” Barry said when asked about the chess match with her friend VanDerveer. “They have to make the plays.”

Linda Lappe and Eisha Bohman each scored on set plays out of breaks to give CU a 60-56 lead with 1:52 remaining.

Just as the Buffs were about to breathe their first sigh of relief since arriving here on Thursday, Cardinal point guard Nicole Powell drained a 3-pointer to make the score 60-59.

With 36 seconds left Donaphin stole an in-bounds pass to give Stanford a chance to have the last shot, and laugh. And Powell, who is 6-foot-2, finally had the matchup she wanted with 5-6 Nightingale guarding her on a switch in the final moments.

But Powell didn’t shoot. And after Wirt stole the pass on the baseline she made the foul shots most kids pretend to take in the driveway.

“We played Iowa State for 39 minutes and 57 seconds in the Big 12  Tournament,” Barry said of the 58-56 last-seconds loss in Kansas City. “I told them we had played Stanford for 39 minutes and 52 seconds and we’re ahead. We have eight seconds to finish this game.”

The Buffs are still not finished. It’s noise in Boise.