Head coach Nancy Fahey chases down win number 400

Aaron Wolfson [email protected]
Annabelle de St. Maurice

Washington University women’s basketball head coach Nancy Fahey will try to win her 400th career game this Friday when the Bears travel to Pittsburgh to take on Carnegie Mellon (13-8, 5-5 UAA). If WU stumbles against the Tartans, Fahey will get another chance to achieve the milestone victory on Sunday against the University of Rochester (18-4, 7-4).

Now in her 17th year as the head coach at WU, Fahey has enjoyed a stellar career. Among her myriad of accomplishments with the Bears are four consecutive NCAA national championships from 1998-2001, the longest winning streak in NCAA women’s basketball history at 81 games, an .855 winning percentage entering this season (best among active Division III coaches), and 12 UAA titles. Fahey and her assistants have received 11 UAA Staff of the Year awards, and she has been named national Division III Coach of the Year twice.

Fahey is quick to point out the contributions by others that she has received along the way.

“I feel that this is something that happens to the program, and not just a reflection of me,” Fahey said. “There have been many players here over my 17 years that have won the games, so the accomplishments are more for the program as a whole; that’s how I look at it.”

Fahey first game at WU came in 1986, and she guided the Bears to the Final Four only five years later. In 1998, Fahey won her first national championship, and for two consecutive seasons, 1998-1999 and 1999-2000, WU didn’t lose a single game.

“One of my favorite moments was that first Final Four appearance,” Fahey said. “It was something that we talked about a lot, and it kind of seemed like it was never attainable, that it was always someone else who got to go. Finally making it to the Final Four was very special; it was a validation, and a dream come true.”

Simply making it to the Final Four, however, is nothing compared to winning it all.

“The moment when we actually won the championship was very memorable,” Fahey said. “I remember being there in the last few minutes, when we were ahead by a lot, just feeling disbelief that we had actually accomplished something that I had wanted for the whole program.”

This season is already shaping up to be another memorable one for Fahey and her team. With just three regular season conference games left to play, WU is sitting at 22-0, atop the national standings, and has already clinched its sixth consecutive UAA title. The Bears are also the owners of several impressive streaks including 53 straight regular season victories and 31 consecutive conference wins.

Despite having already won the conference and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the Bears and coach Fahey realize the importance of going into the postseason on a winning note, and must focus on not slipping up in either of their final two road games against Rochester or Carnegie Mellon.

“This is what it’s all about, right now,” said Fahey. “We’re proud of having clinched the conference, but there are still other ramifications to these games, especially seeding for the NCAA tournament, and knowing where we will be going.”

In particular, facing Rochester on the Yellowjackets’ home court will present a challenge to the Bears.

Against Rochester on Jan. 24, WU played its closest game of the year, slipping past the Jackets 70-61 at the Field House. Rochester’s reserves outscored the vaunted Bears bench, and the Jackets held their own the inside, too, topping WU in rebounds, points in the paint, and second chance points.

Without the comfort of home court advantage, the Bears will have to improve their play in order to assure a victory.

WU had an easier time with Carnegie Mellon in the teams’ first meeting of the season, winning 74-53 and out rebounding the Tartans by nearly 2-to-1 margin.

“Both of these teams play good help-side defense, pack it in, and overextend, so we’re going to have to do a good job of making the extra pass, sticking to our up-tempo game, and playing good defense,” Fahey said. “We just need to be sharp and continue to play our best basketball.”

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