No. 6 Stanford 69, Oregon St. 59

2/9/2008 11:57 PM

By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -Kayla Pedersen and the rest of the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal weren't satisfied with another easy win.

This time, Stanford defeated Oregon State 69-59 on Saturday night.

``We're not on top of the conference right now so we have to keep treating games like it is the NCAA tournament - one loss and we're out,'' Pedersen said.

The freshman forward had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal (22-3, 11-2 Pacific-10), who remain in second place in the conference behind No. 9 California.

Candice Wiggins scored a game-high 25 points in Stanford's 10th straight victory.

``We just need to take better care of the ball,'' said Pedersen, who had her sixth double-double. ``There were way too many turnovers and easy layups.''

Ashley Allen had 17 points to lead the Beavers (10-14, 3-10), who have lost six straight.

Stanford, coming off a 72-43 win over the Oregon Ducks on Thursday night, predictably began to pull away midway through the first half, taking a 30-17 lead on Jayne Appel's free throws.

Wiggins, the Pac-10's leading scorer who has been the conference's player of the week for the past two weeks, hit a jumper followed by a pair of free throws to go up 35-21 at halftime.

Stanford pulled ahead by 16 points early in the second half, but Talisa Rhea's 3-pointer pulled the Beavers within 39-28.

Oregon State couldn't get any closer, and Wiggins' layup put Stanford out front 50-38.

Oregon State closed in again late, pulling to 64-54 on Allen's 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Tiffany Ducker. The Beavers couldn't get closer than 10 points.

Stanford outrebounded the Beavers 46-32.

``I feel like we played hard for 40 minutes, we stepped up,'' Beavers coach LaVonda Wagner said. ``Unfortunately, we weren't able to knock down big shots at important times.''

Wiggins needs 92 points to surpass Lisa Leslie's Pac-10 career record 2,414 points.

Stanford was without starting forward Jillian Harmon, who has a stress reaction in her right foot and is out for an estimated four to six weeks.

Harmon, who is from Lake Oswego, Ore., was averaging 7.2 points and 5.8 rebounds.

Oregon State, which was coming off a 56-45 loss to California, remained without guard Brittney Davis, who has missed four straight games with a sprained right knee. Davis was averaging 13.4 points and 2.7 assists.

Two top-10 opponents this week has been tough on the Beavers, Wagner admitted.

``It has been a grind. But I feel like this is a journey, a process,'' Wagner said.

California (21-3, 12-1) stayed atop the Pac-10 with a 53-34 victory over Oregon earlier Saturday.

Stanford leads the series against Oregon State 40-6, with a 15-game winning streak. The Cardinal are 16-6 at Gill Coliseum.

The last time Oregon State beat the Cardinal was in the 2000-01 season.

Before their season-high 10-game winning streak, the Cardinal lost to USC and UCLA, the team's only consecutive losses this season.

It was ``Think Pink'' night at Gill Coliseum, a breast cancer awareness campaign by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Fans were encouraged to wear pink, and the Beavers wore pink headbands and shoelaces.

More than 850 teams nationwide were participating in the campaign running through next weekend.