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Women's Basketball

Wiggins Becomes Pac-10 Scoring Leader in Win Against WSU

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - Senior Candice Wiggins has nearly done it all during her four years at Stanford.

Now she can add Pac-10 career scoring leader to her ever growing list of accomplishments.

Wiggins scored 24 points to become pass Lisa Leslie and move into the top spot on the conference scoring list and No. 7 Stanford beat Washington State 74-52 on Sunday. The victory gave the Cardinal at least a share of their eighth consecutive Pac-10 regular-season championship.

"I'm really happy for lots of reasons," said Wiggins, who passed Leslie's mark of 2,414 points late in the first half. "The regular season's done and just seeing how far we've come is very exciting. Obviously this feat that I've accomplished has been kind of looming for awhile and I'm very proud."

The Cardinal (27-3, 26-2 Pac-10) finished the season on a 15-game winning streak and will be the No. 1 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament. Ninth-ranked California needed a win Sunday afternoon at Washington to clinch a co-conference championship.

Stanford moved to 46-0 against Washington State, which finished its first regular season under coach June Daugherty at 5-24 overall and 2-16 in Pac-10 play.

"Stanford's a great program," said Daugherty, who coached under Tara VanDerveer at Stanford from 1986-89. "It starts with, obviously, not only a Hall of Fame coach but also with Candice Wiggins. She's phenomenal.

"I'm so glad that, hopefully, we never have to face her again. She's just that special of a player."

Wiggins scored 22 points in a win at Washington on Friday to reach the 2,400 mark for her career. She passed the record Leslie set in 1994 on a base-line drive with 1:25 to play before halftime and was fouled by WSU's Sabrina Shired in the process.

After converting the free throw, play was suspended to honor Wiggins and she was given the ball she set the record with. Fans and both teams applauded her.

"That's a tremendous accomplishment and it could not happen to a better person, a better basketball player, a better leader," VanDerveer said. "I've never coached anyone that I've enjoyed more than working with Candice. I'm very happy for her and very proud of her."

It was just the latest on a long list of impressive achievements for Wiggins, who started her Stanford career becoming the first freshman to win the conference's player of the year award in 2005. She won the award again as a sophomore and was named a second-team All-American in each of her first three seasons with the Cardinal.

Wiggins also has been a standout performer while representing the U.S. in international competition. Last summer alone, Wiggins was a part of two U.S. gold-winning teams at the World Championships in Russia and the Pan-American Games in Brazil.

Wiggins hit three early 3-pointers and finished 5-for-7 from behind the arc for the game. She also had five rebounds and six assists.

"I think today was just about playing relaxed," she said. "A lot of times you can try to do too much or press. I just was really relaxed and let the game come to me."