NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FINAL : Hemmer Succeeds With Leap of Faith : Stanford: Freshman helps defeat Western Kentucky after being reassured following poor performance Saturday.

A little faith and reassurance were all Rachel Hemmer needed.

Stanford’s coaches and players knew it. And they had plenty of faith in her.

They told Hemmer so after her poor performance during Saturday’s semifinal against Virginia, and the freshman forward responded Sunday, leading the Cardinal to a 78-62 victory over Western Kentucky and its second national championship in three years.

Hemmer, a 6-foot-3 forward, scored a game-high 18 points and had 15 rebounds.

This from a player who a day earlier had scored only four points and had three rebounds before fouling out.

Hemmer, one of five starters averaging in double figures, acknowledged being a “nervous wreck” when she stepped onto the court Saturday for her first Final Four.

“I was overwhelmed. I was very tight and very tense,” she said. “But the coaches took me aside and said, ‘Don’t worry, you can play better than that and you get another chance (Sunday).”

Val Whiting, Stanford’s 6-3 junior center, called Saturday’s game a “warm-up” for Hemmer and added: “I knew that she was going to come out today and get the job done.”

That she did.

The freshman showed no signs of nervousness and even challenged 6-4 Paulette Monroe, one of the strongest players in the nation, and 6-5 Trina Wilson.

Hemmer pushed back when pushed. She fought her way inside from start to finish. Apparently not worried about fouling, she even let her elbows fly on occasion.

But Hemmer seemed to always be in the right place at the right time.

She didn’t take a breather until five minutes remained in the first half.

Her totals: 12 points and eight rebounds. The Cardinal led, 28-23, and would never trail.

“Rachel does not play like a freshman,” said junior guard Molly Goodenbour, the tournament MVP. “She plays beyond her years.”

Hemmer, as she was unable to do Saturday, took some of the pressure off Whiting on the inside. Whiting, who was frustrated in the early going by the taller Western Kentucky players, finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

“I thought all we had to do was control Whiting,” Western Kentucky Coach Paul Sanderford said.

“We couldn’t let her get 28 points and 15 rebounds like she did against Virginia.”

Said Whiting: “I knew (Hemmer) would come on and be very competitive. She has a lot of spark and emotion and we like that in a player.”

A good thing for Stanford.

Hemmer is a player few coaches had faith in despite successful high school careers in Virginia and Texas.

Virginia Coach Debbie Ryan, who had Hemmer as a student in her basketball camp while Hemmer was playing high school there during the 1989-90 season, said last week that she had little interest in Hemmer and was surprised at how well she fit into the Stanford program.

“It’s a credit to the coaching staff and to hard work,” Ryan said. “I was real surprised that she had such a big impact.”

Tara VanDerveer, Stanford’s coach, said her assistants second-guessed the signing of a player some thought was too slow and too selfish to succeed at the college level.

“Other schools were hesitant and even some of my assistants told me, ‘I’m not sure you want her,’ ” VanDerveer recalled.

“I said, ‘I don’t care, I’m signing her anyway.’ ”

Hemmer said she was so impressed by VanDerveer’s faith in her that she decided to shape up and “do whatever it takes to help the team.”

First stop, a visit to the Stanford track coach for conditioning.

“Within the first week I knew we had a big-time player on our hands,” VanDerveer said. “It didn’t take long.”

All it took was a little faith.