No. 5 Stanford 81, Utah 77

11/18/2007 7:10 PM

By DOUG ALDEN
AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -Stanford center Jayne Appel appeared destined for the bench, drawing her fourth foul with 6:03 left in regulation.

Appel managed to avoid a fifth foul over the final six minutes, then for another 10 minutes of overtimes to lead the No. 5 Cardinal to an 81-77 double overtime win over Utah on Sunday.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore had career highs with 30 points, 20 rebounds and six blocks as Stanford (3-0) improved to 10-0 against Utah. The Cardinal needed a last-second 3-pointer to tie it at the end of regulation and lost preseason All-American Candice Wiggins when she fouled out early in the first overtime, yet held on for a victory.

``Great players foul out,'' Appel said. ``It's part of the game - as long as she doesn't do it again.''

Appel was grinning when she talked about holding Wiggins accountable for fouling out. Cardinal coach Tara Vanderveer's smile was more of relief. Stanford trailed most of the second half and needed Melanie Murphy's 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

``To even get into overtime was kind of a little bit of a miracle for us,'' Vanderveer said.

Utah (1-1) missed three of five free throws down the stretch that could have put the game away and given the Utes their first win against the Cardinal.

Katie King finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds for Utah. Morgan Warburton scored 20 points, Leilani Mitchell finished with 18, including a tying layup to force the second overtime, and Kalee Whipple had 17 points for the Utes.

Utah finished 18-for-28 from the foul line, missing half of its 14 free throws in the second half and leaving just enough room for the Cardinal comeback.

``It's hard when you know it's your game and that's all you have to do to close it out,'' Utah coach Elaine Elliott said. ``That's tough to take.''

The Utes had managed to shut down Wiggins, who finished with 17 points. Wiggins was just 4-for-17 from the floor and 1-for-7 from 3-point range, but did make all eight of her free throws. But Wiggins' game ended when she collided with Jessica Perry at the top of the key with 2:51 left in the first overtime.

Before Wiggins left the court, Appel huddled the Cardinal.

``As soon as she fouled out, the first thing I heard was Jayne. She called everybody together and said Candice - we got you. This is for you. We got you,'' Wiggins said.

The game was tied at 71 after the first OT, then Stanford scored the first six points of the second overtime, including four by Appel, and controlled the rest of the game.

Rosalyn Gold-Onwude added 10 points for the Cardinal and freshman Kayla Pedersen added nine points and 15 rebounds in her third college game.

Stanford rallied despite going 11-for-34 from the field in the second half. Utah had the game almost wrapped up when Whipple went to the line with 10.8 seconds left and the Utes up 61-59. But she made just one of the two free throws and Stanford got the rebound and a chance to tie it.

Murphy got a shot off in time to tie it at 62 and force the overtime.

The Utes matched that with a thrilling end to the first OT.

Pedersen made four straight free throws to put the Cardinal up 71-67 with about a minute left, but missed two with 12.9 to go and Stanford's lead down to two points. The Utes pushed the ball up the floor and the 5-foot-5 Mitchell got around Appel, who's almost a foot taller, for a layup that tied it again with less than a second to go.

``We wanted to at least get a shot off before time ran out,'' Mitchell said. ``I just wanted to slip around her and thankfully it went in.''