TUCSON, Ariz. - Jayne Appel broke Lisa Leslie's record to become the Pac-10's all-time leading rebounder while junior forward Kayla Pedersen scored a game-high 26 points to lead second-ranked Stanford to a 75-48 victory over Arizona in Tucson.
Appel, who entered Saturday's game with 1,210 career rebounds, just four shy of Leslie's mark of 1,214, took over the top spot when she grabbed her fifth rebound of the game with 4:03 remaining in the first half. The senior center would end up with eight rebounds in the contest to go with her 11 points.
Pedersen scored 17 of her 26 points in the second half, as the Cardinal broke open a five-point game at halftime by outscoring the Wildcats, 43-21, over the final 20 minutes. Playing in front of family and friends in her home state, the Fountain Hills, Ariz. native went 4-for-8 from behind the arc and 11-for-20 overall while also grabbing eight rebounds and passing out a season-high seven assists.
Stanford (26-1, 17-0 Pac-10) will go for its first undefeated Pac-10 season since 2002 when it travels across the Bay to Berkeley next Saturday, March 6 for a 12:30 p.m. tip against California.
After a close first half which saw it leading, 32-27, the Cardinal reeled off a 14-6 run over the opening 8:41 of the second half to push its advantage to 13 at 46-33. Pedersen would then score 13 points in a 21-8 Stanford run that encompassed exactly seven minutes and put the Cardinal comfortably ahead at 67-41 with 4:19 left to play.
Sophomore Nnemkadi Ogwumike added 15 points and nine rebounds to the Cardinal effort, while Jeanette Pohlen also reached double figures with 11 points. Redshirt junior guard JJ Hones, making her first start of the season, put up a fine line with seven points, five assists and a career-high seven rebounds.
Hones was starting in place of redshirt senior Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, who sat out Saturday's game as a precaution after taking a blow to the head in the Cardinal's victory at Arizona State Thursday night.
The game started out well for the Wildcats, who got buckets from Davellyn White and Soana Lucet in the opening minute to take a 4-0 lead. But the Cardinal would respond with 11 straight points punctuated with consecutive three-pointers from Pedersen and freshman Joslyn Tinkle to take an 11-4 lead that it would never relinquish.
Both teams struggled from the floor over the next 10 minutes, combining for only 23 points over the next nine minutes.
Arizona would close to within three at 30-27 after a Reiko Thomas three-point play with 1:22 to go in the half, but that was as close as the Wildcats would get the rest of the way.