Jan. 18, 2007
STANFORD, Calif.- Cissy Pierce scored a career-high 14 points, Kristen Newlin grabbed 10 of her 13 rebounds in the first half and No. 9 Stanford won its 13th consecutive game, 70-48 over Oregon on Thursday night.
Jayne Appel and Brooke Smith each added 12 points as the Cardinal (15-3, 8-0 Pac-10) won its 49th consecutive Pac-10 home game, a streak that dates to March 2001.
Eleanor Haring and Carolyn Ganes each scored 15 points to lead the Ducks (10-7, 2-5), who have lost 20 straight at Stanford. Taylor Lilley added 10 points. The Ducks played without 6-foot-6 senior center Jessica Shetters, who sustained a stress fracture in her lower back.
Stanford shot 48.3-percent in the second half to overcome a poor shooting effort in the opening half. The Cardinal grabbed a season-high 55 rebounds to Oregon's 37.
Ganes hit a 3-pointer early in the second half to end Stanford's 20-0 run that spanned both halves. It was also the Ducks' 100th 3-pointer, tops in the conference.
The Cardinal eventually built a 30-point lead midway through the second half, allowing coach Tara VanDerveer to rest junior All-American guard Candice Wiggins, who missed Saturday's victory at Washington State because of a sprained right ankle. She finished with nine points in 25 minutes.
Both teams experienced cold shooting spells. The Ducks missed their first nine shots and failed to score in the first 6:20 of the game. Stanford was 3-of-6 from the field to start and then missed 14 of its next 15 shots and went more than eight minutes between field goals.
Oregon, the Pac-10's best 3-point shooting team entering the game, missed its first eight long-range tries. The Ducks are last in steals, yet got four in the first 10 minutes.
Oregon drew to 16-12 with 5:50 left in the first half. Stanford scored the final 15 points of the period to take a 31-12 halftime lead. The Ducks shot 19 percent in the opening half.
NOTES: Stanford's 55 rebounds represented a season-high ... Why does it seem like the Cardinal races out to large first-half leads and cruises the rest of the way? A stifling defense that forces opponents into early cold spells really helps. Consider the last three games: Oregon missed its first nine shots tonight, Washington State missed 10 of its first 11 attempts last Saturday and Washington came up empty on its first eight chances one week ago ... The Cardinal pulled down 33 rebounds in the first half alone ... Kristen Newlin has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in a game on seven different occasions this year ... Candice Wiggins, making her return to the court after sitting out against Washington State with a right ankle sprain, scored nine points in 25 minutes in her 15th start of the year ... In addition to Oregon athletic department staff and a small media contingent from Eugene, the scorer's table featured an unusually large "Duck" presence. Public address announcer Betty Ann Boeving played collegiately at Oregon while shot clock operator Emmy Zack served as media relations director for the women's basketball team while Boeving was a member of the team ... In three career games against Oregon, Pierce has made 8-13 from the field ... Stanford shot under 40-percent for the first time since Nov. 29 in an 88-56 win over Santa Clara (39.7-percent) ... Stanford's winning streak reaches 13 games, the longest since a 23-game stretch in 2004-05 and one of 17 double-digit winning streaks in program history.