The Stanford women’s basketball team routed UCLA 70-46 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles today to become the first team to go both undefeated in the Pac-10 Conference and win the Pac-10 Tournament.
With this victory the No. 2 Cardinal also secured an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, where it will likely gain a one-seed alongside No. 1 Connecticut.
In the brief history of the Pac-10 Tournament, Stanford (31-1, 18-0 Pac-10) had only met UCLA (24-8, 15-3) once before in the championship game, losing to the Bruins in that contest in 2006.
This time around, Pac-10 Player of the Year and the Pac-10 Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player sophomore forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike continued her streak of double-doubles in each round of this competition to lead her team to victory with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Four players from today’s game were also named to the Pac-10 All-Tournament Team: senior center Jayne Appel and junior forward Kayla Pedersen, who both finished in double figures, for the Card and sophomore forward Jasmine Dixon and freshman forward Markel Walker for the Bruins.
A layup by Appel in her first start since spraining her ankle on March 2 gave Stanford the opening points of the game, but for the first five minutes UCLA stayed close, closing to within two points at 14:31. From that point onward, though, the Cardinal began to steadily build its lead, finishing the first period ahead 36-19.
The last time the Card visited Los Angeles it was 16 points clear at the half, but the Bruins outscored it in the second period, taking the game right down to the wire. In that game Appel had gotten into foul trouble and had fouled out with a couple of minutes left, and when she received her fourth foul with seven minutes remaining today history seemed to be repeating itself.
Faced with a 21-point deficit UCLA had managed to close to within 15, and when Appel sent her to the charity stripe, Dixon brought the gap down to 13. All contest long Dixon had been the thorn in the Cardinal’s side, scoring a game-high 20 points while most of her teammates were held to below-average totals.
But this time it was UCLA that suffered from foul trouble, and with five minutes remaining Dixon left the court for her fifth violation, becoming the second player to foul out and ending the Bruins’ chances of pulling off a remarkable resurgence.
The number of fouls committed by UCLA (20 compared to Stanford’s 12) did nothing to help keep it in the game, giving the Cardinal 10 more trips to the free-throw line.
One area that is sure to be of concern to head coach Tara VanDerveer in the upcoming days will be the high number of turnovers made by her team.
When the Cardinal women are on form, their crisp, quick passing style breaks holes in defensive lines, and this was certainly evident today. As UCLA relaxed momentarily after scoring a layup, junior guard Jeanette Pohlen launched a great cross-court pass to a sprinting Appel to finish in style, drawing the foul from a Bruins player at the same time.
The team made 17 assists to the Bruins’ seven and another great play saw just one dribble and six sharp passes end in redshirt junior Melanie Murphy’s hands for another basket in her 10-point haul.
But when ambitious passes are intercepted it can hurt the Card, and today UCLA forced 15 turnovers and made seven steals from its opposition.
Defensively, though, Stanford caused problems for the Bruins. When these two teams met at UCLA earlier this year, junior guard Doreena Campbell had led UCLA’s fight back with 17 points, but this time she was held to just two. The beginning of the second half further demonstrated this, as UCLA benefited from offensive rebounds to keep possession for over a minute, but could not capitalize at all.
Now with the regular season and Pac-10 Tournament complete, the stage is set for a thrilling NCAA Tournament. The seedings and bracket will be released tomorrow at 4 p.m.
Just six games, and perhaps the all-but-unstoppable force that is UConn, now lie between the Cardinal and a coveted national title.