Cy-Fair sisters take Stanford to NCAA Tournament win

by John Renshaw | March 21, 2011 3:53 pm

Nnemkadi and Chiney Ogwumike scored a combined 32 points in the win.

Cy-Fair High School graduate Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help the top-seeded Cardinal take its initial step toward a fourth straight trip to the Final Four, beating UC-Davis 86-59 in the first round of the tournament on Saturday.

Chiney Ogwumike, also a Cy-Fair High School graduate, scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists and collected three steals in the effort.

Nnemkadi, a 2008 graduate of Cy-Fair High, was a three-year letter winner in basketball and volleyball, and lettered one year in track. She captained the basketball and volleyball teams for three years each and was a track captain in her only season with the team. She swept the Gatorade National and State Player of the Year awards as a senior and was named Miss Basketball Texas. Nnemkadi shared Parade Co-Player of the Year honors and collected Houston Player of the Year honors three times. She was named a McDonald's All-American and earned All-America honors from the WBCA, EA Sports, MaxPreps, SLAM! magazine, Parade and USA Today following her senior season.

Chiney, a 2010 graduate of Cy-Fair High, captained both the volleyball and basketball teams as a junior and senior lettering four years in both sports. She led the basketball team to a pair of state titles (2008, 2010) and three state title game appearances overall. In 2009-10, she earned national player of the year accolades from the Atlanta Tip-Off Club (presenters of the Naismith Award), Morgan Wooten, National Coaches Association, MaxPreps and rivals.com. She was also named Gatorade's National Athlete of the Year in addition to its Girl's Basketball National Player of the Year. Chiney played club basketball with Cy-Fair Shock Nike Elite from 2002-09 and helped her team to U.S. Junior Nationals title and to Nike Nationals semifinals appearance.

Stanford will play Monday night against ninth-seeded St. John's (22-10), a 55-50 winner over No. 8 Texas Tech in Saturday's first game. Pedersen, Pac-10 Player of the Year Pohlen, and the other seniors will try to wrap-up a perfect record on their home floor.