Stanford’s winning streak in the Pac-10 Conference continued over the weekend, as the team finished off its trip to the Grand Canyon State with a 75-48 win over Arizona.
The Wildcats (13-14, 6-10 Pac-10) managed to stay close for the entire first period, but a few minutes into the second half the No. 2 Cardinal (26-1, 17-0) pushed out to a commanding lead that sealed the contest.
Returning to her home state, Fountain Hills native junior forward Kayla Pedersen had 26 points and six rebounds, while three other Stanford starters made it to double figures in scoring.
In response, the Pac-10’s rebounding leader, Arizona junior forward Ify Ibekwe, was the best performer in the Wildcats’ ranks, recording the only double-double of the contest to end with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The headline-grabbing statistic, though, was set by senior center Jayne Appel. Having already firmly secured her place in Cardinal history, she broke USC legend Lisa Leslie’s rebounding mark to ascend to the top of the Pac-10 record books with 1,218 boards. Stanford now has the conference records for both points (Candice Wiggins ’08) and rebounds (Appel).
True to form, however, Appel remained unfazed, her eyes firmly set on the one prize that has so far evaded her in her collegiate career.
“It is a tremendous accomplishment, but I’m sorry, I want a national championship,” Appel said.
In the first few moments, the Wildcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Stanford countered with an 11-point run. From there on in the game was close, with the Cardinal unable to break free of Arizona in the first period. At the half-time buzzer five points separated the two, and the shooting percentages were almost the same with 37.1 percent for Stanford compared to 36.7 percent for Arizona.
Some of this can be explained by sophomore forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike being called for two early fouls that saw her sidelined, playing just six minutes and scoring two points in the first half. In her 18 minutes in the second she netted a further 13 points.
Earlier in the season, the Cardinal trailed Arizona at the half at Maples before the opposing team’s challenge dropped away in the second period. With 13 minutes remaining in Tucson, history began to repeat itself, and Stanford ran out to an unbeatable lead.
Fatigue must have played a part in the final result as Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer was able to call on a total of 13 players in her squad to take the court, but, in comparison, Arizona head coach Niya Butts only had a rotation of eight.
As the opposition tired, the Cardinal women made the Wildcats pay, hitting 14-28 field goals in the second period and 7-13 from behind the arc. In almost every statistical category Stanford was the clear leader by the end.
Two days previously against Arizona State in Tempe the Card had committed a season-high 21 turnovers, showing everyone that there was room for improvement. The four turnovers in this game, a season low, were the perfect response.
“To have only four turnovers was great for us,” VanDerveer said. “That was something we wanted to work on coming into this game. It is something we have been focusing on so we did really well.”
Redshirt senior guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude was forced to sit out her first game of the season after taking a knock to the head in the Card’s win over ASU two days previously. Though not seriously injured, with the conference title and top seed in the Pac-10 Tournament already secured, the team took the precautionary measure to rest her and ensure she is fit for the looming post-season challenges.
Her defensive presence may have been missed, but the good news is that even without a key player in the starting lineup the team still took a solid win on hostile ground.
The Cardinal women now return to the Bay Area, heading across to Berkeley for the team’s final conference game this Saturday. The Golden Bears need a win to clinch third place in the conference, and, as an added incentive, have the chance to tarnish their cross-bay rival’s perfect conference record.
Tip off is at 12:30 p.m. in Berkeley.