Stanford star throws down the first women's NCAA tournament dunk in nearly a decade
- Stanford's Fran Belibi rose up for a one-handed jam in the Cardinal's first March Madness matchup.
- It was the first women's NCAA tournament dunk since 2013, when Brittney Griner threw one down for Baylor.
For the first time in nine years, a women's basketball player dunked during March Madness.
Stanford star Fran Belibi rose up for the slam early in the reigning NCAA champion Cardinal's first-round rout of 16-seeded Montana State. After swatting down a three-point attempt on the defensive end, Belibi scooped up the loose ball, dribbled the length of the floor, then threw down the one-handed jam to cap off the brilliant play.
Check out the highlight below:
The slam was just the third dunk in women's NCAA tournament history.
WNBA superstar Candace Parker — who won two national championships with Pat Summitt's Tennessee Volunteers — threw down the first-ever women's March Madness dunk in 2006. Seven years later, Brittney Griner — the seven-time WNBA All-Star currently being held in Russian detention — dunked in the tournament while competing for Kim Mulkey's Baylor Bears.
Belibi's teammates went wild on the bench after their 6-foot-1 center added her name to the very exclusive list of women's tourney dunkers. And, as it turns out, they were part of Belibi's inspiration to go for the slam rather than a run-of-the-mill layup.
"My teammates have been getting on me because I haven't dunked yet this year," Belibi told ESPN after the game. "And so I saw the opportunity and decided I might as well try."
The 20-year-old also noted that the team enjoyed having a "full house" at their home arena of Maples Pavilion, so she wanted to give them something special in return.
"To be able to do it in a game and to have all those fans with us and to hear the crowd [cheer] for, it was a really long time," Belibi said during the post-game press conference. "It was like 30 seconds. That's a long time to be cheering. And just to hear how loud it was in there, that was definitely a highlight."
One of Belibi's teammates, senior guard Lexie Hull, was amped to watch the moment unfold from the court. She said she was thinking "Do it, do it, do it!" as Belibi was dribbling up court, "and then when she did it, I was so excited."
"Thinking back on plays, people don't remember, 'Oh, it was a really cool three-point shot or it was a great shot,'" Hull added. "People remember the dunks. I remember every single one of Fran's. To be right there was super cool and definitely a memory I'll have forever."
But Tara VanDerveer — Stanford's Hall of Fame head coach — was more inclined to downplay the historic moment.
"I mean, it's two points," VanDerveer said. "And I know it was fun for the crowd because the game maybe was a little bit out of hand at that point, maybe not too much. But it's exciting. I'm glad that she can do that."
"But I did remind her that it's two points and the next play down, there was a girl that got a lay-up, and it was her girl, so I was like, 'Come on, Fran,'" she added. "But really, it adds some excitement, and she had a great game rebounding... I'm really happy for her, and the team was crazy in the locker room for her."
Belibi and her Cardinal teammates walked away from Friday night's game with a 41-point win. They'll move on to face the eighth-seeded Kansas Jayhawks Sunday at 9 p.m. ET with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen on the line