An astonishing 36-point, 11-rebound performance from Kiki Iriafen made VanDerveer's historic day possible as No. 8 Stanford broke open a nervous first half with a 20-10 run in the third quarter to pull away.

There was a big party at the end of the game, full of emotion, photos with the team and a big number, 1,203, in one of those shows where the USA used to be the best. She was very happy and honoured to have reached such an important milestone, as it informed Declan Walsh for NCAA.

VanDerveer, who has been a head coach since her twenties and will make 71 next June, had tied Mike Krzyzewski's record two days earlier with her 1,202nd victory, 88-63 over Oregon on Friday night. After the match, the Stanford players formed a circle to celebrate with her, and Kiki Iriafen told her teammates: "Tara's been winning since our parents were kids!"

"It is like having a dream and seeing it come true. I wanted to study law because there were no coaches. It was not a job for women. My timing was terrible for playing, but it was very good for coaching. I was a head coach by the time I was 24. I'm just really grateful to have a job that's not a job. To experience this is more than I ever dreamed of," she said on Friday.

VanDerveer began her basketball career as a point guard-turned-centre at Albany. After two seasons, she played for Bea Gorton at Indiana, who had modelled her programme on the school's legendary men's coach, Bobby Knight.

The Hoosier legend led the Candy Stripes to an AIAW semifinal and quickly applied her Knight-inspired philosophy. After brief stints with her sister's high school team and at Ohio State, VanDerveer landed her first head coaching job at Idaho in 1978.

VanDerveer returned to Ohio State as head coach two years later, and her career in Palo Alto came to an end in 1985. At Stanford, she won three NCAA national championships, most recently in 2021, as well as five Coach of the Year awards and 14 Final Four appearances. 

VanDerveer also had the opportunity to coach the United States women's national basketball team that won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and bronze at the 1994 FIBA Women's World Championship in Sydney, where Brazilian Hortencia de Fatima Marcari scored 32 points in a thrilling 107-110 semi-final loss to Brazil.