Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer ties Pat Summitt's Division 1 record with 1,098th win

Stanford's Tara VanDerveer tied former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt for the most victories in Division I women's basketball with 1,098 as the No. 1 Cardinal beat Cal 83-38 in Berkeley, California, on Sunday night.

VanDerveer, 67, has gotten 946 of those wins at Stanford, where she took over in 1985-86. She coached before that at Idaho (42 wins from 1978-80) and Ohio State (110 from 1980-85).

On Tuesday, VanDerveer will go for the record-breaker at Pacific (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET).

"I love being in the gym," VanDerveer said of coaching. "It's putting a puzzle together. I like it, it's a challenge."

This victory, Stanford's fourth this season, came against one of VanDerveer's former Cardinal players, Cal coach Charmin Smith.

Cal, which hasn't won yet this season, offered little resistance to Stanford, which was sparked by sophomore Fran Belibi dunking -- the eighth woman in Division I history to do that -- en route to finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds.

"We're going to be talking about her dunk instead of this [record], which I'm fine with," VanDerveer said. "It was a great dunk."

As for why she seemed so low-key about the accomplishment, VanDerveer acknowledged the challenges of dealing with the pandemic ---which for Stanford has included a move to Las Vegas to practice because of restrictions in Santa Clara County -- had impacted the way she's experiencing this milestone and season.

"It would feel different if you were playing in front of a crowd, or my mom was there," VanDerveer said. "But this allows me to fly under the radar, and that's OK."