No. 9 Stanford 70, Oregon St. 55

2/15/2007 11:09 PM

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -Jayne Appel had a season-high 28 points to go with 17 rebounds, and ninth-ranked Stanford put away Oregon State in the second half for a 70-55 win Thursday night.

Brooke Smith added 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting for the Cardinal (22-4, 14-1 Pac-10), who have rebounded from a Feb. 4 loss to California with three straight wins.

Ashley Allen scored 15 points to lead the Beavers (8-16, 3-12), who dropped their sixth straight. Casey Nash added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Julie Futch had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cardinal struggled in the first half, falling behind by 11 at one point with star guard Candice Wiggins in street clothes with an ankle injury.

Wiggins, averaging 16.8 points, was hurt last week against Washington, but entered midway through the second half, just after Stanford took a three-point lead. She took just two shots and scored three points, but Stanford never looked back.

The Beavers took a 16-10 lead after three-straight 3-pointers, two from Allen.

The Cardinal cut the lead to two, but the Beavers went on an 11-4 run to lead by nine.

Stanford closed the gap by getting the ball to Appel, who had 14 points in the half. The Beavers led 34-32 at the break.

With the score tied 43-43 at 11:47, Appel converted a 3-point play for the Cardinal.

Wiggins, who jogged around the Gill Coliseum basement at halftime to loosen up her ankle, entered the game and made a 3-pointer at 8:08 that put Stanford up 53-46. The Cardinal followed that with a 10-3 run that put the game away. Wiggins came out of the game with 1:58 left.

Appel, a 6-foot-4 reserve forward, was 12-of-20, while being guarded mostly by the 6-1 Nash and 5-11 Judie Lomax.

Lomax had nine points, and point guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin had seven points, seven assists and three steals, but also seven turnovers and 1-of-9 shooting for Oregon.