KATE STARBIRD
#30

Tacoma, WA
Sophomore
6-2
Forward

A large (274K) photo of Kate in action

Honors

 1993-94 Pac-10 All-Freshman
1993-94 U.S. Olympic Festival (West squad) (St. Louis)
1992-93 Parade First Team All-American
1992-93 Kodak High School All-America MVP
1992-93 Sports Illustrated "Faces in the Crowd"
1992-93 Gatorade State (Washington) High School Player of the Year
1992-93 USA Today State (Washington) High School Player of the Year
1992-93 MVP of the State of Washington Tournament

At Stanford

 When Kate Starbird, Stanford's tallest recruit of last year's freshman class at 6-2, first arrived on campus in September of 1993, it appeared her season was in jeopardy due to injury...Her injury was a "bipartate patella" or, in other words, a cracked right kneecap, which, remarkably, she played basketball and tennis on all throughout her senior year at Lakes High in Tacoma...She didn't discover the extent of the injury, however, until just a few days after she had arrived at Stanford in late September (`93)...The previous diagnosis had been nothing more than tendinitis...But she made a remarkable recovery, and somehow was ready to play by the very beginning of the regular season...She scored eight points, and pulled down a season-high seven rebounds in her first game at Texas Tech and was off-and-running...Her year culminated by her being named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team...Last summer, she played on the West Squad at the U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Louis..."Kate is a real versatile player," said VanDerveer. "She's very smart, and has speed, good court sense, owns a good three-point shot, and can put the ball on the floor better than anyone else on the team. She could play point-forward if necessary. Her vision and her size separate her from anyone else we have. A real hard worker, we need her to improve her rebounding and her defense. But she's a slasher, is deceiving, and is real exciting to watch"...Kate chose Stanford over her other top two choices, Vanderbilt and Duke. "Kate can play either wing position for us," said Associate Coach Amy Tucker. "She's a good passer for her size and goes to the basket very well. I think she's a heady player. Somehow she finds a way to score."

The 1993-94 Season

 Named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team (along with teammate Jamila Wideman)...Kate had a fine freshman year, playing in all 31 games, and starting nine...She averaged 9.9 points per game, one of the higher ppg averages for a freshman in the 9-year VanDerveer era at Stanford...She also averaged 2.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists...She shot an even .500 both from the field overall and from three-point range...Her .832 free throw percentage was second-highest in the Pac-10 and best on the team...She scored a career-high 24 points in the victory over UCLA...She had six assists in the wins over Dartmouth and Washington State at home... Scored 308 points overall, 202 in Pac-10 play...In the conference only, her average zoomed to 11.2 ppg.

In High School

 Kate was a superstar performer at Lakes High School under head coach Gill Regell...In fact, she is the all-time state of Washington scoring leader for boys as well as girls following the 1992-93 season with 2,753 points...She played almost every position imaginable in her time at Lakes High...In her senior year, she averaged 29.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 4.6 steals, and 3.5 blocked shots in 30 games...Kate was named First Team Parade All-American, the USA Today State Player of the Year, the South Puget Sound League MVP, and First Team All-Conference both as a junior and senior...As a senior, she was also the Gatorade Circle of Champions State Player of the Year, the Seattle Times Player of the Year, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Player of the Year, the Kodak All-America Team MVP, and the MVP of the state tournament (despite the fact that Lakes finished no better than 5th in the tournament)...Kate was also one of Sports Illustrated "Faces in the Crowd" this past summer...As a junior, Kate averaged 29.7 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals... Academically, she was a member of the National Honor Society as a junior and senior...She was a National Merit semifinalist as a junior, and a National Merit finalist as a senior...She was a member of the Match Club from her sophomore year on...Her GPA was a 3.95.

Personal Information

 Born July 30, 1975...Full name is Catharine Evelyn Starbird...Her initial intent is to major in Chemical Engineering at Stanford and her career goal is to become a successful engineer...Her relative, Charles Leonard, won a silver medal in the pentathlon in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin for the USA...Kate enjoys water skiing and computer programming...With her mathematical mind, she has created a pinball game and created a stat program for her high school basketball coach.

Starbird in the News
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