Sister act in Sweet 16
Karlie and Katie Lou Samuelson help Stanford, UConn push on
LEXINGTON, Ky. — There’s a long way to go. But if Stanford beats Texas on Friday night and then wins Sunday against Notre Dame or Ohio State, the Cardinal would reach the Final Four.
Top-ranked and undefeated Connecticut, of course, is heavily favored to get there, too.
If all that happens, the Samuelson sisters — Stanford’s Karlie and UConn’s Katie Lou — would both be on the national stage in Dallas. They might even play each other in the final.
“That would be awesome,” Jon Samuelson, their dad and first basketball mentor, said on the phone Thursday. “They’d love to play each other. For me, it would be a nightmare. It would be hard to watch. You’d hope they both would do well, and you’d root for the best team to win.”
He was getting ready to leave the family home in Huntington
Beach (Orange County) and fly Friday to Lexington, attend the Stanford game, then fly to Connecticut to catch UConn’s game against UCLA in Bridgeport on Saturday afternoon.
His wife, Karen, isn’t making the trip. “She gets too nervous,” he said.
Karlie followed older sister Bonnie to Stanford and emulated her three-point shooting accuracy. The senior is second in the nation from long range (shooting 48.3 percent); only Belmont’s Darby Maggard is better (48.7). Samuelson averages 12.6 points, third best on the Cardinal.
Katie Lou, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, is the top scorer (20.9 points per game) for the Huskies, who have won 108 consecutive game and are bidding for their fifth straight national title.
During Stanford’s win over Kansas State on Monday, Jon was in the stands, getting texts from Bonnie about Katie Lou’s game, happening at the same time.
All three sisters developed different shooting styles. “We learned the mechanics the same way with all the clinics we went to and from my dad,” Karlie said. “But you have to find your own form and what works best for you.
“Mine is my left foot is back, and that allows me to shoot further back. Lou shoots higher on her head.”
Jon says, “Shooting is so mental. It’s about holding their follow-through, keeping their eye on the target, good backspin, muscle memory with repetition.”
Bonnie started playing at age 5, Karlie at 4. Jon, a 6-foot-6 forward, played one year at Cal State Fullerton before transferring to Chapman College. He later played professionally in England and is now a junior high physical education teacher.
Karen, who has retired as a teacher, played on England’s national netball team.
“It’s like basketball but without a backboard,” Karlie said. “I think you play either offense or defense, sort of like soccer.”
Karlie was the shyest of the sisters growing up. When the family ate at restaurants, Katie Lou would have to order for her.
Yet, when the sisters played one-on-one, Karlie was the most competitive, her father said. “We had to stop it before a fight broke out,” he said.
She is majoring in human biology, as did Bonnie, now studying optometry at Ketchum University in Fullerton. Karlie is considering becoming a physical therapist or a physician’s assistant, but she’d love to play professionally first.
She has become a much more well-rounded player than she was earlier in her college career. She is a strong defender, and she’s no longer content to fire from three-point range.
She’s willing to mix it up on drives, a far cry from her previous approach. “When contact was coming, I’d close my eyes,” she said. Assistant coach Kate Paye taught her not to shy away from contact, she said.
“You’ve got to get out on her, and then she can take her pullup, or she can take it to the rim,’’ Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “And her passing has improved a lot. But she’s always been an extremely intelligent player, and now I think, in some ways, the game slowed down for her even a little bit more.”