The Cardinal women kicked off their play in the Pac-10 Tournament in the Galen Center at USC with an eventually comfortable 72-52 victory over the Wildcats.

The final score-line, however, does not do justice to a close game in which Arizona (14-17, 6-12 Pac-10) simply refused to give in to Stanford (29-1, 18-0).

The Card started this game the undisputed favorites, having held the No. 2 national ranking all year and been seeded first in the tournament after its undefeated sweep of the conference.

All five regular starters were named to All-Pac-10 teams this week and freshman forward Joslyn Tinkle gained a place on the All-Rookie squad. Sophomore forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike was also named Pac-10 Player of the Year, and senior guard Roslyn Gold-Onwude shared the title of Pac-10 Defender of the Year.

Even though it finished eighth in the conference and had a losing record, Arizona gained some recognition itself with junior forward Ify Ibekwe also named to the All-Pac-10 team and guard Davellyn Whyte taking home Freshman of the Year Honors. The team was also fresh off a 62-60 win over Washington State yesterday, and if the players needed any more motivation it was that this could well be their last participation this year.

That said, with both teams’ shots missing their targets, the game stayed scoreless until Whyte broke through for Arizona to take the first points. The Cardinal then quickly responded to double the Wildcats with a 10-5 lead, but Stanford could not pull away. Each time the Cardinal women drew significantly ahead, their opposition managed to reign them back in.

In the first half, Ibekwe was crucial to keeping the Wildcats in the game, scoring 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds, but she also committed five turnovers.

Meanwhile, Ogwumike was tasked with being the point scorer for the Card in the absence of senior center Jayne Appel, still sidelined from a sprained ankle she injured over a week ago.

After a period in which a bemusing three straight possessions ended in jump balls, Ogwumike showed why faith in her is well-placed. Melanie Murphy drove in toward the basket before linking up with her with a wrap-around pass that Ogwumike finished in style.

At the half, Stanford had secured a 10-point lead with a 34-24 score, and with a much smaller bench of players available to Arizona head coach Niya Butts than Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer, many expected the Wildcats to drop away from here on in.

But they came back strong after the break, holding the difference at 10 points for the first five minutes before rapidly closing the lead. At 13:35 Brooke Jackson dropped a shot in from beyond the arc to close the game to just three points at 43-40.

VanDerveer needed to make a change, to break the Wildcats’ run and ensure Stanford made it safely through to the next round.

So she took a risk and brought on Appel.

Almost immediately this had the desired effect, with the Cardinal going on an 8-0 run that put it back in control of the contest.

Ominously for any watching opposition, Appel showed no signs of the injury that kept her out of the game against Cal last weekend, and though subbed back out once the game looked safe, she could clearly have played longer.

As the game wound down VanDerveer finally relaxed and brought more players off the bench, further illustrating the difference in the size of these teams, with 12 Cardinal players taking to the hardwood by game’s end, compared to just seven Wildcats.

Both Ogwumike and junior forward Kayla Pedersen achieved double-doubles, while junior guard Jeanette Pohlen continued her strong run of form, netting five three-pointers to score 15 points while also grabbing six rebounds.

The Cardinal faces California tomorrow for the second time in a week as it chases down a seventh Pac-10 Tournament title and looks to secure a coveted No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The semi-final between the cross-bay rivals starts at 2:30 pm from the Galen Center.