Feb. 17, 2007
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Jayne Appel is getting better as she gets more experience with No. 9 Stanford.
The freshman center had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Candice Wiggins scored 17 points and the Cardinal beat Oregon 74-56 Saturday.
Appel nearly recorded a triple-double, also finishing with seven assists. She was coming off a career-best 28-point, 17-rebound game against Oregon State.
"Jayne's a big force inside," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "We go inside to her and she can score against anybody."
Wiggins played but didn't start for only the second time in her career last Thursday against the Beavers due to a sprained right ankle. The junior guard showed no ill-effects of that injury against the Ducks (15-11, 7-9 Pac-10), going 7-for-13 from the field with three 3-pointers and eight rebounds.
Brooke Smith also recorded 10 points and nine rebounds for Stanford (23-4, 15-1), which has won four straight.
"Candice brings, and you can see this as soon as she comes out of the game, the presence that she has is phenomenal," VanDerveer said. "When she's out there, she brings such a calming effect to the team and just a confidence. And I think the great ones are the ones that make the other ones around them better and Candice certainly does that."
Oregon, which beat No. 22 California by 20 points on Thursday for its fifth win in six games, was led by Eleanor Haring, who had 19 points.
"We played a very good team today and I don't think we played our best," Oregon coach Bev Smith said. "And when those two things collide, it's going to be a disappointment."
Haring put the Ducks up 17-14 at the 8:14 mark with the only 3-pointer made by either team in the first half. But Oregon scored only four points the rest of the half on 2-of-11 shooting.
Stanford took advantage, going on a 13-2 run to build a 27-19 advantage. Jillian Harmon scored all seven of her first-half points during that stretch.
The Ducks scored the first four points of the second half to get within two at the 17:25 mark. But Stanford answered by scoring seven straight in less than a minute on a layup by Appel, a 3-pointer by Michelle Harrison, and a steal and layup by Wiggins to make it 34-25 with 16:12 to play.
"Anytime you can get some consecutive baskets, that kind of spurt gives you a lot of momentum and then everyone gets confident," Wiggins said.
NOTES: Stanford improves to 35-8 all-time against Oregon and has now won five straight against the Ducks ... Early candidate for Monday's Pac-10 Player of the Week award: Jayne Appel, who scored a combined 46 points on 21-38 shooting from the field with 28 rebounds on the road trip ... This afternoon against the Ducks, she dished out a career-best seven assists ... Stanford is now 15-1 in Pac-10 play with home games against UCLA and USC remaining next week. The Cardinal is shooting for its fifth one-loss season in Pac-10 competition ... Michelle Harrison's first three-pointer since Jan. 25 at Arizona was her 10th of the year. It also extended Stanford's streak of games with at least one three-pointer to 403 ... Just another game at MacArthur Court for Candice Wiggins. The junior guard has turned the Pac-10's famous arena into her personal playground, following up last year's career-best 37-point performance with today's gutty 17-point, eight-rebound effort ... Oregon's Jamie Hawkins, a transfer from Boise State, is the niece of Colorado head football coach Dan Hawkins ... Oregon's Eleanor Haring reached the 1000-point mark for her career ... Brooke Smith, who entered today's contest having scored in double-figures in five straight games, did not score her first bucket until just under seven minutes remaining in the second half ... Prior to the game, Oregon honored its five seniors: Carolyn Ganes, Eleanor Haring, Jamie Hawkins, Cicely Oaks and Jessie Shetters.