No. 6 Stanford 72, Oregon 43

2/7/2008 11:52 PM

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -Oregon scored the first basket. Then No. 6 Stanford scored 23 straight points, making it clear this wasn't the Ducks' night.

The Cardinal cruised to one of their biggest wins ever at McArthur Court, 72-43 on Thursday night, Stanford's largest margin of victory in Eugene since 1991.

Candice Wiggins had 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists to help Stanford (21-3 overall, 10-2 Pac-10) to its ninth straight win.

Stanford led 46-12 at halftime.

``I thought we came out and played a great first half,'' Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. ``Candice came out and had just a great first half and really got us going.''

Kayla Pedersen scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half, and Jayne Appel had 14 points, eight rebounds and five blocks for Stanford.

Nicole Canepa had 12 points for the Ducks (10-13, 4-8), who shot just 23.1 percent (6-for-26) in the first half.

Ellie Manou hit a jumper on the first possession of the game, giving Oregon a 2-0 lead. Over the next 10 minutes, the Ducks missed their next 10 shots and committed seven turnovers.

``I think hands down it started with our defense,'' Wiggins said. ``We were able to build confidence on offense through that.''

What followed was a 23-0 run - keyed by Wiggins, Pedersen and Appel - who helped the Cardinal hit 9-of-14 shots during the spurt. Pedersen's free throws with 9:58 left in the half ended the run and all but ended any hopes of an Oregon upset.

``We didn't come out with enough intensity,'' Canepa said. ``We definitely had different expectations.''

Wiggins, a senior guard who last week broke Stanford's scoring record, then connected on three consecutive baskets, and Appel followed with a layup to push the Cardinal lead to 40-10 with 4:23 left in the half.

Stanford was 20-for-34 (.588) in the first half. Wiggins (15 points) and Pedersen (13) each outscored Oregon in the first half.

The Ducks opened the second half on a 13-4 run to pull to 50-25. Oregon outscored Stanford 31-26 in the second half, when VanDerveer played many of her reserves.

``Credit Oregon, at the beginning of the second half they came out much more aggressive and we saw a lot more of what they're capable of doing,'' VanDerveer said. ``But we just had built too big a lead.''

Stanford starting forward Jillian Harmon, a native of Lake Oswego, Ore., suffered an undetermined right foot injury and will miss Saturday's game at Oregon State.