Oregon State
Stanford
Beaver Women Close Out Season With Loss
February 26, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2005
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
STANFORD, Calif. - Candice Wiggins had 20 points, three rebounds and two assists, and No. 3 Stanford completed an undefeated home season with an 84-41 victory over overmatched Oregon State on Saturday.
Stanford won its 17th straight game with another dominant performance to go unbeaten at home for the first time since 1996-97, the last year the Cardinal reached the Final Four.
Brooke Smith added 14 points and four rebounds as the Cardinal (26-2, 17-1 Pac-10) won their 37th straight Pac-10 home game with former Stanford and WNBA star Jennifer Azzi in the stands. They haven't lost to a conference opponent in Maples Pavilion since a 62-59 defeat to Southern California on March 1, 2001.
Kelley Suminski, one of five Stanford seniors honored before the game with flowers in a tearful ceremony, had 12 points, four rebounds and two assists. Sebnem Kimyacioglu added 11 points, three blocks, two assists and two steals.
Senior T'Nae Thiel hobbled to midcourt on crutches, the result of a partial fracture in her left foot sustained in Thursday's win over Oregon. She's expected back in time for the Cardinal's first NCAA tournament game March 19 or 20.
Stanford already wrapped up the Pac-10 title last week, giving the Cardinal the top seed in next weekend's conference tournament in San Jose. Their average margin of victory in conference play was 24.9 points.
This is one of the best Stanford teams in coach Tara VanDerveer's 19 seasons at the school, and the Cardinal have high hopes of reaching the Final Four after falling one shot short against Tennessee in the round of eight last March.
Mandy Close and Shannon Howell had eight points apiece to lead the Beavers (6-22, 1-17), who lost their seventh straight and 10th in a row to Stanford. Oregon State, whose last victory was Feb. 1 against Utah Valley State, has never won in 19 meetings at Maples Pavilion.
The Beavers finished last in the Pac-10 for the fifth time, and the first since they went 3-15 in 1998-99 to share that distinction with USC. Oregon State matched its worst conference finish at 1-17, also the team's record in 1989-90.
The Cardinal established a new school record for lowest opponent scoring average in conference play at 56.9 points per game.
Their 17-game winning streak is the sixth longest in school history and best since Stanford won 22 straight in the 2001-02 season.
Stanford jumped to a 15-1 lead less than five minutes into the game behind two 3-pointers from Kimyacioglu and one from Suminski. The Cardinal, who won their regular-season finale for the 17th straight year, shot 58.6 percent in the first half on the way to a 44-14 lead at the break. Stanford ended the half on a 15-4 run.
The Beavers made their first field goal on Close's layin at the 15:11 mark.
