Nygaard to Sign With Stanford

Carlsbad High senior Vanessa Nygaard, the Times player of the year in 1992, announced Wednesday she will sign a letter of intent to play college basketball for NCAA champion Stanford.

“It’s the ultimate, academically and athletically,” said Nygaard, a 6-0 forward.

Nygaard, who led Carlsbad to the Section 2-A title last year, chose Stanford over Colorado and UCLA.

“You can’t turn down Stanford,” she said.

This summer, Nygaard played for the San Diego AAU team and was named to the All-American team at the national tournament.

“I definitely played better than I’ve ever played,” Nygaard said. “There were over 100 college coaches there and that was a lot of pressure.”

Nygaard said she expects to play big forward for Stanford, which will lose five players to graduation next year.