Article from SF Gate
Wed Jan. 23 2002
Cardinal senior has a
one-track mind
Stanford's Yamasaki finds way to stardom
Michelle
Smith, Chronicle Staff Writer
For a player who is the leading scorer on the third-ranked team in the country, played in 19 games this season and walked off the floor in defeat only once, Lindsey Yamasaki remains wholly unfulfilled.
"How can we expect everything to be perfect right now?" Yamasaki said. "We need to learn how to be a dominating team, how to put the hammer down and keep it down. People need to step up and be leaders."
That will be Yamasaki's mandate as the stretch run of the season commences this week with the Cardinal (18-1, 8-0 Pac-10) playing host to Arizona tomorrow night and Arizona State on Saturday. Her career at Stanford has been less a progression than an evolution, anything but a straight line from her arrival as a highly regarded recruit to the All-America candidate she has become.
Yamasaki came to Stanford as a beacon of hope after heartbreak. The athletic guard/forward from Oregon City, Ore., was to usher in a new era of Stanford women's basketball. She arrived on the heels of the 1997-98 season in which devastating injuries to star players Kristin Folkl and Vanessa Nygaard transformed the Cardinal from a No. 1 seed into a first-round NCAA loser. Yamasaki led the team in scoring that season at 14 points per game.
Her sophomore and junior seasons were marked by inconsistency and conflict, as she and head coach Tara VanDerveer clashed over her status as a two-sport athlete and her role on the basketball team. (She ultimately ceded her spot on the Stanford volleyball team.)
But this season, the drama has been kept to a minimum.
"We still have our differences, but we have figured out that we want the same thing and we are working to get it," Yamasaki said. "In that sense, it's better than it's ever been."
Yamasaki admits that she has changed.
"I did not deal well with adversity," Yamasaki said. "It was hard for me and hard for her to deal with me. Now I listen and nod instead of fuming inside. I guess I always listened, but this year it has been easier to hear."
VanDerveer has seen Yamasaki's maturation and believes that her consistency this season is a direct reflection. Only three times this season has she failed to score in double figures, and she is shooting a career-high 48.1 percent from the field.
"Each person has their own journey, and hers has not been an easy journey," said VanDerveer, who considers Yamasaki one of her two go-to players, along with Nicole Powell. "I don't have any issues with Lindsey. She wants to win a championship, and we are on the same page about that."
For the first time since her freshman season, Yamasaki is a regular name penciled into the starting lineup. She has started all of Stanford's games and is the team's leading scorer at 16 points per game.
Over the summer, Yamasaki had a different basketball experience, playing for the U.S. team at the World University Games in China. It was a fruitful experience beyond the fact that the American squad won the tournament.
"Every single day, everyone on the team played at a very high level, and no one expected anything less," Yamasaki said. "That was the feeling that I wanted to bring back to Stanford with me."
Yamasaki has her sights set on the WNBA, but she also has a contingency plan. If she is not drafted in the WNBA, she is considering a return to Stanford to play one more season of volleyball.
All of that is background noise right now. Yamasaki is, admittedly, obsessed with the task at hand.
"I want it so bad. I spend about 95 percent of the time thinking about basketball," Yamasaki said. "When I'm sitting in class, my mind is wandering. I think about it in my car, before I get to sleep at night. This is my last chance and the season is slipping away. We've got to get it done right now."
Lindsey Yamasaki was heralded as one of the nation's top freshmen when she came to Stanford, but after a promising freshman year, she is just now reaching her collegiate potential.
-- '98-99: Averaged 14 points, 5.9 rebounds, shooting 39.6%; started 23 games
-- '99-00: Averaged 6.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, shooting 45.7%; didn't start any games, missed seven games while playing volleyball for Stanford
-- '00-01: Averaged 12.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, shooting 43.7%; started 8 games
-- This season: Averaging 16 points, 4.9 rebounds, shooting 48.1%; has started every game
