ASU women routed by Stanford

By foxsports
Published

Box score

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) --




Stanford wanted to establish its fast-paced, push-the-ball game from the opening tip, not letting Arizona State get into its trademark, hard-nosed defense.

The Sun Devils never had a chance to keep up. This one was over in mere minutes.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored all 16 of her points in the first half and grabbed eight rebounds, and No. 4 Stanford earned its 54th straight home victory at Maples Pavilion with a methodical 82-35 rout of Arizona State on Saturday.

"I thought we just had to come out and jump right on them," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Jeanette Pohlen added 18 points -- 14 in the first half -- to go with three steals and three assists for the Cardinal (12-2, 3-0 Pac-10) in their 10th straight win in the rivalry. Stanford is picked to win its 11th consecutive Pac-10 conference crown this season after three straight trips to the Final Four.

Dymond Simon led the way with seven points for the cold-shooting Sun Devils (10-4, 2-2), who were never in this game on the way to being swept in their annual Bay Area trip after a 67-55 loss on Thursday night at California. Simon is nursing a foot injury.

Kayla Pedersen added 10 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes and freshman Chiney Ogwumike scored eight in the Cardinal's sixth straight victory since dropping two in a row -- at DePaul and Tennessee -- last month. The run includes a thrilling 71-59 win over then-top-ranked Connecticut on Dec. 30 to snap the Huskies' record 90-game winning streak.

VanDerveer, honored after the game in an on-court ceremony for reaching the elite 800-win mark Dec. 22 at San Francisco, got to go to her bench early in this one, with the starters sitting most of the second half.

"Well, 800 was a lot of fun but how about 802?" athletic director Bob Bowlsby said afterward, referencing the UConn win before presenting VanDerveer with a bouquet of flowers.

Pohlen scored 11 points and Pedersen six during a 22-4 run to end the first half and put Stanford ahead 42-14 at the break. The Cardinal had three reserves on the floor to end the opening 20 minutes and coasted the rest of the way, thoroughly outhustling and outplaying the usually scrappy Sun Devils.

"What I've known about working at Stanford, I work with bright, motivated young women," VanDerveer said. "This particular team has a chance to be a really special team. You've got kids who play their roles and they're just trying to improve. We're making changes based on what will work for us in the long run."

Nnemkadi Ogwumike shot 7 for 11 and Pohlen 7 of 10, while Pedersen went 5 for 8 and Chiney Ogwumike made all four of her field-goal attempts. Stanford finished 64.8 percent from the floor.

Arizona State trailed from tipoff to final buzzer for the second straight game. That after the Sun Devils had won seven straight before this trip and hadn't lost since a 65-55 loss to then-No. 14 Florida State on Nov. 27.

"Stanford has it rolling and we took the weekend off," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We just had no flow, no sync. We really had no time to practice it and we didn't score any points. Eventually it gets demoralizing and we stopped playing defense."

Stanford has won 40 straight games against Pac-10 opponents, 34 in a row during the regular-season conference schedule since a loss to Cal in January 2009.

The Cardinal followed up a season-best 70.4 percent in the second half of their 87-54 rout of Arizona on Thursday night by shooting 64.3 percent in the first half Saturday. Arizona State was held to 20 percent (5 for 25) in the first half, 22.8 percent overall and committed 21 turnovers.

The Cardinal led 11-0 just 5:25 into the game and made five of its initial six shots -- three of those baskets by Ogwumike. Stanford scored 26 points in the paint in the first half and 48 in all, while also holding a 40-28 rebounding advantage.

"We just focused on what they were giving us," Nnemkadi Ogwumike said. "We were making smart plays. We were ready to go from the start and did not want to have any letdowns. We wanted to start faster than we did in the Arizona game."

Arizona State missed its first 10 shots, including five 3-point tries, before Markisha Patterson connected from long range at 13:13. The Sun Devils' 35 points were one more than Stanford's lowest total allowed -- 34 to Washington State on Feb. 8, 2007 -- to a conference opponent.

Stanford is 29-1 all time at home against Arizona State, the Cardinal's lone loss coming on March 3, 1984.