April 6, 2008
Stanford 82, Connecticut 73
April 6, 2008
NCAA Final Four
Tampa, FL
Stanford will be playing in its third national championship game in school history on Tuesday night. The Cardinal is 2-0 all-time in NCAA title games, defeating Auburn in 1990 and Western Kentucky in 1992. Stanford is 52-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Stanford's 35 victories are the most in school history. The Cardinal's previous best was a 34-2 campaign in 1996-97. Stanford has led at the half of all five NCAA Tournament games and is 30-0 when leading after 20 minutes this year.
Candice Wiggins (7-19 from the field, 8-9 free throws, 3-6 from three-point territory) has registered four double-doubles this year and two so far in NCAA Tournament competition. She finished with 25 points and a season-best 13 rebounds (all defensive) against the Huskies. For the tournament, she is averaging 27.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Jayne Appel posted her team-leading 12th double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) of the year in 32 minutes.
Kayla Pedersen hit three of her first four field goal attempts, matching the total number of field goals made (3-13) in Stanford's first meeting against Connecticut back on Nov. 22. She finished with 17 points on 8-14 shooting and seven boards in 37 minutes.
JJ Hones has dished out at least four assists in a game on 16 different occasions. On the flipside, there have been 16 games this year in which she has not committed a turnover. Add up the numbers and it's easy to see why Hones is the Pac-10 leader and one of the nation's best in assist-turnover ratio. Stanford placed at least four players in double-figure scoring for the 15th game this year. Stanford has outrebounded its opponents 31 times this year and sports a 29-2 record when that's the case. The Cardinal held a 43-37 edge in tonight's game, led by Candice Wiggins' 13 and
Jayne Appel's 10. Stanford's first double-digit lead of the night came at the 10:25 mark of the second half, when
Jeanette Pohlen drove hard to the basket and swished a pair of free throws for a 57-46 lead. Stanford has totaled at least 40 points at the half in 15 games this year, including four times in the NCAA Tournament. Stanford owns an 8-0 mark when scoring at least 80 points this year. The Cardinal is also the first team to score 80 points against Connecticut this year. The Cardinal dished out 11 assists before committing its first turnover at the 2:31 mark of the first half. Stanford ended the first half with 12 assists and one turnover and wrapped up the game with 20 assists and 11 turnovers. Connecticut was held without an offensive rebound until Tina Charles grabbed a miss following a short jumper with 6:33 remaining in the first half. Stanford limited Connecticut's starters to just 17-52 shooting from the field overall.
