Dec. 30, 2007
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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Freshman guard Jeanette Pohlen understands playing time could be limited this year with an All-American and three other returning guards ahead of her.
She's satisfied with making contributions whenever she gets on the court.
Pohlen scored a career-high 20 points, all in the second half, and No. 2 Stanford beat Washington 77-42 on Sunday.
"When I do get in and get good, open looks I'll take them," said Pohlen, who was 6-of-9 from the field, including a 3-of-5 effort from long range. "My main focus is to contribute wherever I'm needed. I try to play defense on the other end and go for steals."
Fellow freshman Kayla Pedersen added 12 points and 12 rebounds to help the Cardinal (12-1, 2-0 Pac-10) hand the Huskies (5-9, 0-2) their worst loss of the season.
Jayne Appel and Candice Wiggins each added 12 points.
"It's good for others to contribute," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "Jeanette came in and gave us a spark. Washington's game plan seemed to be to double Jayne and Kayla and stop Candice. We had to beat them some other way and Jeanette did a great job."
Washington's Kali Bennett had 11 points and matched her season high with 11 rebounds. Jess McCormack also had 11 points.
"We wanted to give them a good game," Huskies' first-year coach Tia Jackson said. "We tried to take away their three-headed monster and we came out with a good defensive plan. We did what we wanted."
Stanford won its ninth straight since losing to then-No. 2 Connecticut on Nov. 22. The Cardinal also improved to 179-12 in conference home games since VanDerveer, who earned her 700th career win against Washington State on Friday, took over as coach.
The Cardinal beat Washington for the eighth time in nine meetings.
The Huskies are winless in six road games.
Wiggins took over sole possession of third place on Stanford's career scoring list with 2,069 points, moving ahead of WNBA star Nicole Powell. Wiggins needs nine points to take over second place.
Washington, coming off a 26-point loss to No. 11 California on Friday night, set a modern-era school record for futility with its 12 first-half points. It had been 16 years since the Huskies scored as few as 14 in a half.
The Huskies, playing their third ranked team in four games, missed their first 12 shots, made two straight, and then missed another 16 in succession.
"We got wide open looks and weren't able to knock them down," Jackson said. "Those were shots we'll take any time. The rims were friendly to us during shootaround. I don't know who took the wrench to them but I'd like to find out."
Stanford started slowly but held a 13-0 lead until Bennett, a freshman center, hit a short jumper with 11:54 remaining in the half.
The Cardinal held a 30-4 advantage after Pedersen made one of two free throws with 2:20 left. Washington outscored Stanford 8-2 the rest of the way to make it 32-12 at halftime.
The Huskies also committed 14 turnovers in the first 13 minutes, but then went the rest of the way without coughing up the ball. Stanford had 11 turnovers in the half.
Washington shot just under 16 percent (6-of-38) in the half, and missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts. The Huskies were much more effective to start the second half, making six of their first 17 attempts.