Dec. 27, 2004
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - After a loss to Tennessee, fifth-ranked Stanford regained its focus with a balanced rout of Oregon State.
Sebnem Kimyacioglu had 10 points and 10 assists to lead Stanford to an 83-45 victory Monday night in the Pacific-10 Conference opener for both teams.
The Cardinal (9-1) were coming off a 70-67 loss to then-No. 9 Tennessee on Dec. 21. As a result of the loss, Stanford lost dropped in the rankings from No. 2.
"Our team is very steady," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "I like that out team doesn't get too excited when we win or too down when we lose."
Stanford's Brooke Smith led all scorers with 18 points.
"I thought the loss gave us more confidence," Smith said. "We have a good team. We have great players and we'll work it out."
Oregon State (4-6) had a two-game winning streak snapped. Shannon Howell, who was leading the conference with an average of 22.4 points, was held to just 2, a career low at Oregon State.
Beavers coach Judy Spoelstra said she impressed on Howell to go harder, but the senior guard was being thwarted by Stanford's Candice Wiggins.
"We just had to sit her down and go with other players for a while," Spoelstra said.
"Candice got on her right away and just got the ball away from her," VanDerveer said. "That was really disruptive."
The experienced Cardinal cruised to a 41-26 lead at halftime. Kimyacioglu's 3-pointer made it 57-30 in the second half and Stanford went on to lead by as many as 38 points, the final margin.
Kelley Suminski had 14 points for the Cardinal. Mandy Close led the Beavers with 13.
"It was a good experience and we're going to learn from it. We're going to have bumps in the road and we're going to have to keep our heads up."
Stanford travels south to Eugene on Wednesday to Oregon.
The Cardinal also won their conference opener last year - an 88-65 rout of Oregon State at Maples Pavilion.
Stanford has won nine straight games against the Beavers and leads the series 33-6. The Beavers' last victory over the Cardinal came Jan. 11, 2001, when Oregon State won 81-65 in Corvallis.
Overall, it was the most lopsided margin of victory for Stanford on the road since January, 2002, when the Cardinal routed Washington State 104-57 in Pullman.
Susan King Borchardt returned for the Cardinal, after missing the non-conference schedule with an injury to her left foot.