Last night, No. 2 Stanford battled to a 74-53 win against UCLA, which is tied for second place in the conference. Meanwhile, across the Bay, Cal downed USC 61-55 to give the Cardinal a three-game cushion for the second half of the season.

The biggest headlines of the game came from senior center Jayne Appel, who hit season highs in both points and rebounds with 23 points and 13 rebounds. She was then ejected from the game after a tussle with UCLA sophomore forward Jasmine Dixon.

Early on, Stanford (20-1, 10-0 Pac-10) remained competitive with the Bruins (14-7, 7-3) largely by going inside and taking high-percentage shots. Nearly all of the Cardinal’s points from the field (14 of 20 in the first half) came from layups and jumpers in the paint, a marked departure from last Saturday’s outing against Arizona, when Stanford went 5-22 from the perimeter in the first half alone. Last night, the Cardinal took just one shot from beyond the arc before halftime.

After a disappointing zero points against Arizona last Saturday, senior guard Roslyn Gold-Onwude broke the tie in impressive style to get the crowd going. She leapt under the hoop to rebound Appel’s missed layup, before twisting around and netting the ball herself. This brought the Cardinal alive, and it went on a run to finish the first five minutes 11-2 ahead.

Playing a physical game, the Bruins committed 13 personal fouls in the first half, giving Stanford a penalty bonus with nearly six minutes remaining. The Cardinal women seized these opportunities, going 16 of 19 from the line, including 5-6 and 8-9 performances by junior guard Jeannette Pohlen and Appel, respectively.

In L.A. the Bruins had trailed by 16 points at the break, and after clawing their way back to take temporary leads in the first period here, they would have headed to the lockers feeling confident.

An early jumper by Dixon in the second half narrowed the gap to two, but that would be the closest UCLA would get as the Cardinal built an unassailable lead.

Everything looked like it was going to be a great night for Stanford, with both Gold-Onwude and Pohlen posting impressive totals and, most importantly, a return to form for Appel in one of her last Pac-10 home games. But then Appel rose to catch a rebound from a UCLA shot and battled with the two UCLA players pressing her. The referees blew for a foul and went to review the video.

For a while, it had looked like the Bruins would be the team to suffer with foul trouble, making a game total of 26 to Stanford’s 10. However, a flagrant foul was ruled against Appel for use of her elbow and she was ejected from the game.

“On the play when Appel got the rebound, we had plausible reason to believe the contact was excessive or severe in nature,” said official crew chief Scott Yarborough. “As we reviewed the monitor, we found the contact was excessive. Her elbow caught [Dixon] in the face.”

The crowd was on its feet and the atmosphere in the stands turned nasty.

Seconds later Gold-Onwude was brought down by junior guard Darxia Morris as she had a clear lane to the basket, which put the crowd right on edge and made Maples a tough place to play for both sides.

After the dust had finally settled, and the game was over, the players explained what happened in their own words.

“I wasn’t intentionally trying to be flagrant,” Appel said. “I was just playing basketball.”

“I think in every basketball game, there will be plays where you don’t necessarily agree with the foul call, but I agree with [head coach] Tara [VanDerveer] and I think it was a great win for us,” Appel continued. “I think it was just a heavyweight game the whole way through. Right now I’m just [wanting] to know if I’ll be able to play against USC.”

Unhurt, Dixon said that she had no hard feelings about the play.

“Appel was just trying to get the rebound and clear the board, and I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Dixon said. “I don’t think she meant anything by it. Because, like coach said, she’s a great player and she wouldn’t try to hurt anybody. So I don’t think it was intentional.”

The good news for the Cardinal is that the Pac-10 reviewed the call immediately after the game and declared that no further action will be taken against Appel, allowing the team to concentrate on the bright points of a tough match.

“[At] the beginning of the game, we took some ill-advised shots and we had a couple turnovers and a couple bad shots,” VanDerveer said. “But the second half was our kind of game. I’m really excited about how people came out and we battled and got the shots that we wanted and went inside . . . I’m so excited about how our seniors are stepping up and leading the way with their play.”

Now the Cardinal will look forward to USC on Sunday, where it could rack up its 42nd straight home victory and Appel could write her name in Stanford history by breaking the school career rebounds record set by Nicole Powell in 2004. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.