The Cardinal women swept the Washington schools over Valentine’s Day weekend to go four games ahead of second-place UCLA in the conference with only five contests remaining.

Stanford (23-1, 13-0 Pac-10) held Washington (9-14, 4-9) to a 58-38 loss on Friday before crushing Washington State (6-18, 1-12) 98-67 on Sunday to bring up the chance of sealing the conference this week in the final two regular season games at Maples Pavilion.

All-American senior forward Jayne Appel broke the hearts of two teams that have struggled in the Pac-10, posting her best two-game stretch of the year with an average of 21.5 points and 13.5 rebounds. She earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for her efforts.

Friday’s game marked a season-low offensive output for Stanford, but more significant than its small haul of 58 points was the fact it held the Huskies to just 36. At halftime Washington was 4-31 from the floor, and by the final buzzer its two leading scorers, Sami Whitcomb and Kristi Kingma, had been kept to just eight and zero points, respectively.

Washington actually outrebounded the Cardinal 35-33 over the whole contest, but this game was about defense. Stanford had the upper hand with 29 defensive rebounds compared to the Huskies’ 21, with 11 of those boards picked up by Appel.

“She’s showing everyone why she is an All-American,” said Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer. “She’s getting it done at both ends of the floor.”

Appel was not alone, as redshirt senior guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude had the task of marking Kingma. The Queens, New York native kept Kingma scoreless, allowing her to take just four field goal attempts, all of which she missed.

“We’re not like a flashy, pressing, trapping [defense],” VanDerveer said. “We’re more of a grit, grind-it-out, position-playing defense.”

That grit was apparent when Gold-Onwude received a cut above her eye midway through the second period for her defensive efforts, but after a couple of minutes of treatment came back into the thick of the action.

While the first game of the weekend was a low-scoring affair, on Sunday the Cardinal posted its third highest point-total of the year against the Cougars, with five players scoring in double figures and Appel turning in her fourth straight double-double, this time coming before halftime.

The game looked close halfway through the first period with the teams separated by just three points at 24-21, but by the end of the half the Cardinal led 50-28. At that point, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Washington State.

Sophomore guard Jazmine Perkins did all she could to narrow the gap for the Cougars, eventually scoring a game-high 26 points, but with reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week sophomore guard April Cook shut out by Stanford, the game was lost.

The Cardinal dominated inside, outrebounding its opposition 51-29 and outscoring WSU 61-32 in the paint. Appel and sophomore forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike posted scores of 25 and 21, respectively.

“When it comes down to it, there was just too much Jayne,” VanDerveer said. “She has a sense of urgency and you can’t underestimate the sense of urgency.”

Appel’s return to form since the midway point of Pac-10 play should be a worry to every other contending team. She may have already written herself into the history books of Stanford basketball, but she knows this will be her last chance to claim a national title.

“It’s my senior year,” Appel said. “I think about that every day. I think about it every minute I’m on the court. I have 51 days left. When I am out there I want to make the most out of every minute.”

After an injury-stricken January, the Cardinal women’s basketball program seems to be in good health. Both starting seniors, Appel and Gold-Onwude, are playing at the top of their form, junior guard Jeanette Pohlen scored double figures in both of last weekend’s games and from the bench VanDerveer has an increasing number of options.

Redshirt junior guard JJ Hones played over 20 minutes on Friday and freshman forward Joslyn Tinkle notched up her first double-double in her Cardinal career after just 17 minutes of play on Sunday. The future looks bright, as the team seems to be peaking just as the postseason comes into view.

Stanford returns to campus this week for its last conference home games, facing Oregon on Thursday and then Oregon State on Saturday.