The Stanford women’s basketball team is the consensus No. 2 team in the nation and, especially this season, the class of the Pacific-10 Conference. Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif., is considered one of the toughest road environments in the nation; the Cardinal is the Pac-10 leader in home attendance this season.
Oregon first-year head coach Paul Westhead found that out the hard way, as the Ducks (16-9, 7-6 Pac-10) fell behind early and never had a chance to catch up in a 104-60 rout. It was the Cardinal’s 46th consecutive home victory.
Stanford (24-1, 14-0) had five players score in double figures and held Oregon to its second-lowest point total of the season, the lowest in conference play. The margin of defeat is also a season-high.
“They played very good basketball and they really shot the basketball very well. They were shooting well from the outside (and) they got us inside,” Westhead said. “It was one of those games where we were getting cut out and in, in and out. Nothing we could do about that. As they were scoring, we weren’t retaliating.”
Stanford was in control from the opening tip, as Oregon never led in the game. Within four minutes, the Cardinal opened up an 11-4 lead on Rosalyn Gold-Onwude’s three-pointer. Kayla Pedersen made a layup to make it 28-15 with 9:30 remaining. Stanford removed the outcome from doubt by halftime, which was a 59-27 Cardinal lead.
“We went into the game saying, ‘Make or miss, we’re going to run the ball back down at them.’ We did that sporadically,” Westhead said. “Their scoring seemed to take a lot of our pop out of us.”
In a microcosm of the second half, Oregon scored 13 points on five consecutive possessions in a span of 1:45 early on but cut the lead to only 26 points. The Cardinal continued to press the Ducks until the final buzzer, leading by as many as 49 points.
Micaela Cocks was one of Oregon’s brightest spots on the night, scoring 20 points on 7-18 shooting. Victoria Kenyon was the only other Duck in double figures (13 points) as well as the team’s leading rebounder.
Jayne Appel and Jeanette Pohlen led the Cardinal with 26 points each; Appel’s 12 rebounds was also a game high. Pedersen gave Stanford a second player with a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) while Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Gold-Onwude scored 17 and 11 points for the Cardinal.
Stanford’s statistical domination of Oregon was thorough. The Cardinal shot 56.3 percent from the field to the Ducks’ 32.4 percent. Oregon was outrebounded 49-33 and gave up 46 points in the paint, scoring just 12. Stanford scored 18 points off 12 Duck turnovers while allowing just six points off its 10 turnovers.
“They just were on their game. They smacked us around real good,” Westhead said. “We have to take our beating and say, ‘We’re going to do something on Saturday.’”
Oregon did catch a lucky break in the big picture as USC fell to Washington State, 64-52, on Thursday night. The loss drops the Trojans to 7-6 in the Pac-10 (13-11 overall), preserving a tie for fourth place in the Pac-10.
California, the Ducks’ opponent on Saturday, squeaked past Oregon State 66-62 to improve its Pac-10 record to 9-5 (15-10 overall). The Golden Bears handed the Ducks a
72-62 loss in their previous meeting at McArthur Court, the middle game in a five-game losing streak.
Cal guard Alexis Gray-Lawson led all scorers in that game with 19 points; she entered Thursday as the Pac-10 leader in points per game.
Oregon has not beaten the Golden Bears on the road since a 58-51 victory on
Feb. 26, 2005.
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