Jan. 27, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz.- When one of the biggest games of the women's Pac-10 season was on the line, the conference's two-time player of the year took over.
Candice Wiggins scored 10 of her season-high 30 points in overtime and No. 9 Stanford stayed unbeaten in the conference, extending its winning streak to 16 games with a 73-65 victory over No. 10 Arizona State on Saturday.
"When it comes crunch time, you've got to hit shots," Wiggins said.
That she did as the Cardinal (18-3 overall, 11-0 Pac-10) snapped the Sun Devils' 22-game conference home winning streak.
Stanford dominated the overtime 14-6 despite losing front-line players Jayne Appel and Brooke Smith to fouls late in regulation.
"I think it will just build people's confidence to go in and win an overtime and do as well as we did without two of our top players," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.
Wiggins, a second-team All-American as a freshman and sophomore the past two seasons, made a pair of jumpers and all six of her free throws in overtime.
"It wasn't going to be just on me," she said, "but I definitely did know that I was going to have to look to attack more."
Appel added 17 points in Stanford's 14th Pac-10 win in a row, dating to last season.
Danielle Orsillo scored 15, Reagan Pariseau 11 and Briann January 10 for the Sun Devils (19-3, 9-2), who shot a season-low 33 percent (22-for-66). Aubree Johnson added eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds. After going 4-for-5 in the first half, January was 0-for-7 in the second.
After going 3-for-10 in the first half, Wiggins was 5-for-9 in the second half and 2-for-3 in the overtime.
"She made great decisions," VanDerveer said. "She made her free throws, really worked hard defensively and stayed in the game and played the whole 45 minutes."
Stanford led most of the second half, but never by more than six before the overtime.
Appel made both in a one-and-one free throw situation to put the Cardinal ahead 50-46 with 8:17 to play. But Arizona State went on an 8-2 run to take the lead 54-52 on Orsillo's 10-footer in the lane with 4:40 left.
Appel, a 6-foot-4 freshman, scored the next five points to put Stanford on top 57-54, but consecutive turnovers by Wiggins and Cissy Pierce gave Arizona State its chance.
After Smith's fifth foul, January made both of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with 1:54 remaining to give the Sun Devils a 58-57 lead. After Pierce threw the ball away, Appel drew her fifth foul and sent Emily Westerberg to the line.
Westerberg made one of two to put ASU up 59-57, but Wiggins' 10-footer from the baseline tied it at 59 with 54.7 seconds left in regulation.
Neither team could score in regulation after that. Wiggins' 10-footer sailed over the rim, then Jillian Harmon missed a 15-foot jumper. January's driving layup try was blocked just before regulation ended.
"I think at the end we were trying to be aggressive and probably forced some shots against bigger players," Johnson said. "I mean, they are a lot bigger than us."
Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said her team probably drove the lane too often trying to get fouled late in the game instead of finding someone open.
"In big games they're probably not going to make calls like that," she said.
Arizona State, which lost third-leading scorer Dymond Simon to a torn knee ligament last Sunday, seemed to let down in the overtime.
"We weren't quite as energized as I wanted us to be," Turner Thorne said. "I don't know why, but we just weren't. We're an energy team. We've got to go out there and go after you. Our mentality wasn't quite the same as it was down the stretch" of regulation.
Pierce's inside basket put Stanford ahead for good 63-61 with 4:01 left in overtime. Wiggins scored the next six on a 16-footer from the baseline, a 10-footer and two free throws, giving Stanford a 69-61 lead 1:02 from the finish.
"This type of game will get us ready for anybody," VanDerveer said. "Coming in to this environment and playing in this atmosphere is a great confidence builder for our team and for our young players. But we have a lot of work to do. We can't just fast-forward to March and think that we're ready. We're not."
NOTES: Stanford improves to 42-11 all-time against Arizona State and has six of the last seven meetings ... Candice Wiggins becomes the first Cardinal player to score at least 30 points in a game since Brooke Smith poured in 35 against Oklahoma on Mar. 25, 2006 in the NCAA Tournament ... Today represented Stanford's first overtime game since an 85-76 loss to UCLA in last year's Pac-10 Tournament championship game. It was the Cardinal's first overtime victory since defeating UCLA 78-71 back on Jan. 23, 2004 ... With her 30-point effort on Saturday, Wiggins surpassed Jennifer Azzi on Stanford's all-time scoring list and now ranks sixth with 1645 career points ... The Cardinal knocked down just one three-pointer in the contest, matching a season-low ... Briann January started hot for the Sun Devils, entering halftime with nine points on 4-5 shooting. For the remainder of the contest, she was 0-7 from the field, committed three turnovers and eventually fouled out ... Stanford improves to 6-0 in games played on Saturday ... The lineup combination of JJ Hones, Candice Wiggins, Jillian Harmon, Brooke Smith and Kristen Newlin has produced a 12-0 record ... Stanford has won 14 straight Pac-10 regular season games, dating back to last year ... Only three teams have shot better than 40-percent overall against Stanford this year: Arizona (45-percent) on Jan. 25, Georgia (45.3-percent) on Nov. 26 and Tennessee (50-percent) on Nov. 24 ... Next up for the Cardinal: the final non-conference game of the year at UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, Feb. 1 ... The next installment of the Inside Stanford Sports radio show is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 29. Fans are invited to attend the live 1220 AM KNTS broadcast originating from the Old Pro Restaurant at 541 Ramona Street in downtown Palo Alto from 6-7 p.m. Monday's scheduled guests include: assistant coach Charmin