Feb. 16, 2007
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Jayne Appel had a season-high 28 points to go with 17 rebounds, and ninth-ranked Stanford put away Oregon State in the second half for a 70-55 win Thursday night.
Brooke Smith added 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting for the Cardinal (22-4, 14-1 Pac-10), who have rebounded from a Feb. 4 loss to California with three straight wins.
Ashley Allen scored 15 points to lead the Beavers (8-16, 3-12), who dropped their sixth straight. Casey Nash added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Julie Futch had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cardinal struggled in the first half, falling behind by 11 at one point with star guard Candice Wiggins in street clothes with an ankle injury.
Wiggins, averaging 16.8 points, was hurt last week against Washington, but entered midway through the second half, just after Stanford took a three-point lead. She took just two shots and scored three points, but Stanford never looked back.
The Beavers took a 16-10 lead after three-straight 3-pointers, two from Allen.
The Cardinal cut the lead to two, but the Beavers went on an 11-4 run to lead by nine.
Stanford closed the gap by getting the ball to Appel, who had 14 points in the half. The Beavers led 34-32 at the break.
With the score tied 43-43 at 11:47, Appel converted a 3-point play for the Cardinal.
Wiggins, who jogged around the Gill Coliseum basement at halftime to loosen up her ankle, entered the game and made a 3-pointer at 8:08 that put Stanford up 53-46. The Cardinal followed that with a 10-3 run that put the game away. Wiggins came out of the game with 1:58 left.
Appel, a 6-foot-4 reserve forward, was 12-of-20, while being guarded mostly by the 6-1 Nash and 5-11 Judie Lomax.
Lomax had nine points, and point guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin had seven points, seven assists and three steals, but also seven turnovers and 1-of-9 shooting for Oregon.
NOTES: Stanford improves to 38-6 all-time against Oregon State and that includes 14 consecutive victories ... Stanford's streak of 401 straight games with at least one three-pointer (dating back to Jan. 7, 1995) looked to be in serious jeopardy with top threat Candice Wiggins out of the lineup. Until Wiggins, who was said to be unavailable for tonight after suffering a sprained right ankle last week, entered the game with 11:47 remaining in the second half and proceeded to knock down her first shot of the game: a three-pointer ... Melanie Murphy, making her first collegiate start, became only the seventh Cardinal player to earn a starting nod this year ... Tonight marked the first time since Stanford's NCAA Tournament win over Oklahoma last year that two Cardinal players scored at least 20 points in a game ... Jayne Appel's 17 rebounds were the most by any Stanford player this year ... Stanford has now won nine in a row on the road ... Oregon State's Ashley Allen, who entered the game connecting from three-point territory at a 31.3-percent rate, was 5-10 from beyond the arc ... Stanford is now 3-2 when trailing at the half and 20-1 when outrebounding its opponent ... Brooke Smith handed out a team-best seven assists ... The Stanford men's basketball team also won 70-55 on Thursday night at Maples Pavilion.