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Bentley coach joins 800 club

Head coach Barbara Stevens.

Barbara Stevens of Bentley University became the fifth coach in NCAA women’s basketball to reach 800 victories when her Falcons beat C.W. Post, 93-60, on Sunday.

The win gave Stevens an 800-236 record in 34 years as a head coach. She is 643-145 in 25 seasons at Bentley.

The only other coaches to reach 800 wins are Tennessee's Pat Summitt, former Texas head coach Jody Conradt, Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer and Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina. Of those four, only Summitt achieved the milestone in fewer contests than Stevens’ 1,036.

Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer is at 799 after an overtime loss at Tennessee on Sunday. Stanford hosts San Francisco on Wednesday.

As the game ended, the crowd stood in tribute to the Stevens, who hugged her assistant coaches and then had confetti dumped on her by her players. The school, located just outside of Boston, also had commemorative T-shirts made for the event.

“This is a tribute to the players and coaches who I’ve worked with over the years,” Stevens told NCAA.org in a preview of the game against C.W. Post. “This is a team sport. You don’t do anything by yourself in this sport. I wish each of them could share in this. It is as much theirs as it is mine.”