U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS (AP) -In a game of jump shots, Old Dominion held an edge against No. 4 Stanford. Then Kayla Pedersen started taking it directly to the hoop.
Pedersen had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help Stanford (4-1) hold off the Lady Monarchs 69-61 on Saturday night at the Paradise Jam.
"In the first half I was settling for jumpers. In the second half I just took it to them and got fouled," said Pedersen, who scored 15 of her points in the second half and went 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.
The Cardinal started slowly, allowing the Lady Monarchs to tie it at 38 with 15:50 remaining, but gradually pulled away with 11-for-23 shooting in the second half.
Center Jayne Appel had 11 rebounds and six rebounds for a Cardinal team that scored 36 points in the paint compared to 14 for Old Dominion. Jillian Harmon added 16 points and Candice Wiggins 10.
The unranked Lady Monarchs (3-2) showed no signs of intimidation after losing to second-ranked Connecticut 86-43 on Friday night.
Old Dominion came out as the aggressors and outrebounded the Cardinal 13-4 over the first 7 minutes to take an 11-8 lead.
The lead changed hands nine times before Appel hit a layup at the halftime buzzer to put Stanford ahead 34-32. Old Dominion never led in the second half.
Stanford used a 6-0 run, all on free throws, to take a 62-51 lead with 1:20 remaining to help seal the victory.
"We knew they were going to be a tough team and if we just stuck with it we would win. We were never worried," Pedersen said.
Lady Monarchs coach Wendy Larry said the difference in the second half was her team's inability to finish some shots at the rim. But she said she was pleased with her squad's intensity, which wasn't there when the team jumped out to an early lead against Connecticut.
"The difference between yesterday and today is that we competed for 40 minutes," she said.
Megan Pym, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Old Dominion, credited Pedersen and Appel for disrupting their game in the second half.
"They're great big post players. They were a tough match up, excellent athletes," said Pym, who also had two blocks.
Jen Nuzzo led Old Dominion with 14 points and Jessica Canady had 11 points.
The Lady Monarchs stayed close in the first half by going 10-for-11 from the free-throw line, but they went only 7-for-14 in the second half. They also had 20 turnovers, leading to 20 points for Stanford.
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said her team missed a lot of easy shots but praised Pedersen for helping her team to endure Old Dominion's challenge.
"Kayla really worked hard for us on both ends of the floor," she said. "She has been our most consistent player."
Stanford lost to Connecticut on Thursday night.