Nov. 8, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 2/2 Stanford women's basketball team closed out its exhibition slate and had its final dress rehearsal for next Friday's season opener Sunday afternoon, defeating UC San Diego 107-55 at Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal, ranked No. 2 in both national polls, will make its season-opening trip to the East Coast this week, first hitting Norfolk, Va. for Friday's opener at Old Dominion, set for a 4 p.m. PT tip. Stanford will then head up the Atlantic coast to Piscataway, N.J. for Sunday's 11 a.m. PT contest at No. 25/- Rutgers.
Sunday, the Cardinal received a game challenge from a speedy UC San Diego squad, but in the end Stanford's size and strength proved too much for the Tritons. Stanford shot 58.0 percent in the contest, led by the inside trio of Jayne Appel, Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Kayla Pedersen, which combined to score 56 points and shoot 74.2 percent from the floor, including an 11-for-12 outing from Ogwumike.
Guard Melanie Murphy scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and passed out five assists to lead the Cardinal backcourt, while JJ Hones was a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc, finishing with nine points. Jeanette Pohlen led the team with six assists on the day while Lindy La Rocque had five.
Twenty of Stanford's first 24 points were scored inside the paint, as Appel, Ogwumike and Pedersen staked the Cardinal to a 24-10 lead within the game's first seven minutes. Stanford would continue penetrating the paint and scoring layups, and also got a pair of triples from Hones to extend the advantage to 38-16 with 7:56 left in the first half.
The Cardinal lead would hover just over and under the 20-point mark over the rest of the half, as the Tritons used three-pointers from Chelsea Carlisle and Daisy Feder to make it 40-24. But Pedersen would score the next seven Stanford points, pounding her way to the line inside and also stepping behind the arc to drop a three-pointer.
After UCSD again closed to within 16 with 3:33 to go in the half, Stanford would go on a 7-3 run, with four of those points coming from Ogwumike, to end the half and take a 56-34 lead at the break.
The Cardinal pulled away in the second half, as Murphy scored 13 of her points in the final 20 minutes and Grace Mashore also added five with a triple and a pair of free throws.
UCSD managed to get things to within 17 at 66-49, but the Cardinal quickly went back on the attack with Ogwumike scoring six straight points to get the advantage back to 22. Stanford continued to lay it on the Tritons, extending the lead to 32 with 7:46 to play and hitting the century mark with Mikaela Ruef's layup with 4:12 to play.