Feb. 24, 2005
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Candice Wiggins had the date circled on her calendar. She knew the third-ranked Stanford Cardinal still had something to prove.
The Cardinal avenged their only conference loss, getting 13 points apiece from Wiggins and Brooke Smith in a 76-45 victory Thursday night over Oregon.
Stanford held the Ducks scoreless for over 8 minutes bridging the first and second halves and scored 22 straight points to erase any idea of a second Oregon upset.
"Ever since that loss in Oregon we've had this date marked," Wiggins said. "We all know we could have played so much harder the first time."
Kristen Newlin added 12 points for the Cardinal (25-2, 16-1 Pac-10), who won their 36th straight home conference game.
Andrea Bills scored 13 points to lead Oregon (18-8, 11-6). No one else had more than nine points as the Ducks were held to a season low in points.
The Ducks handed Stanford its only conference loss on Dec. 29. Since then, the Cardinal have won 16 straight.
"I'm sure they thought about it," Bills said. "That's their only conference loss. We talked about it, too, and were excited to play here. But they started knocking down some shots and once they do that, it's hard to make them miss."
Stanford shot 62.5 percent from the field, just below its season best of 63 percent at USC.
Catherine Kraayeveld, Oregon's leading scorer and the sixth best in the Pac-10, never scored. She's also the conference's No. 2 rebounder, but was held to two by the Cardinal.
"We took care of business," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "When you limit Kraayeveld to zero points, that says a lot about Brooke's and Azella's (Perryman) defense."
The Ducks, who can secure the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament with a win at Cal on Saturday, fell to 1-18 on Stanford's home court, with the only win in 1987.
Oregon moved into second place in the Pac-10 after winning six of its previous seven games but was no match for Stanford this time.
The Ducks were held scoreless the final 4:43 of the first half and the first 3:25 of the second, when Stanford scored 22 straight in its longest run of the season and led 51-18.
"Coach said that they were the second-place team and we wanted to show the difference between the first-place team and the second-place team," Smith said.
After Bills hit a layup with 16:32 left in the second half, Oregon went dry for another 5:24. The Cardinal took advantage with a 15-0 run.
Overall, the Ducks missed 14 of their first 15 shots in the second half.
Stanford did lose starting forward T'Nae Thiel to a sprained left foot with 17:52 remaining. She will have X-rays on Friday.