Stanford Impressive in Return

Loaded, excited and well-rested, the Stanford Cardinal can’t wait for the tough part of its season.

Casey Jacobsen made five three-point baskets and scored 19 points as No. 3 Stanford beat Sacred Heart, 94-52, in the first game of the Stanford Invitational on Monday night at Palo Alto.

Stanford will play surprising Georgia Tech tonight for the title.

Sacred Heart (0-8) lost its 19th consecutive road game as Stanford (7-0) shook out the cobwebs after a 16-day break by winning another major mismatch.

“We needed to get a little of the rust off,” said Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery.

But the schedule gets tougher. After Georgia Tech, there is Thursday’s showdown with top-ranked Duke at the Pete Newell Classic in Oakland.

“I cannot wait for these next two games,” Jacobsen said.

No. 6 Wake Forest 92, Radford 52--Josh Howard had a career-high 22 points and the Demon Deacons (9-0) won their 14th in a row by limiting their 16th consecutive opponent to under 40% shooting in a victory over the Highlanders (4-5) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

No. 24 Mississippi 92, Troy State 65--Seldom-used Josh Hayes scored 20 points at Oxford, Miss., and the Rebels (9-0) continued their best start since 1936 by making a team-record 14 three-pointers against the Trojans (2-6).

WOMEN

Alicia Ratay scored 21 points as No. 3 Notre Dame (9-0) won its 28th consecutive home game by beating Western Michigan (1-5), 84-54, at South Bend, Ind. . . . Coco Miller scored a season-high 27 points to lead No. 4 Georgia (8-2) to a 110-73 victory over Dartmouth (1-7) at Athens, Ga. . . . Tasha Hamilton scored 20 points to lead No. 9 Auburn (11-0) to a 74-55 victory over Nebraska (5-4) in the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico. Auburn will play Arizona today for the championship. . . . Doneeka Hodges scored 14 points as No. 12 Louisiana State (7-3) got 42 points from its reserves in beating Prairie View (3-5), 79-32, at Baton Rouge, La. . . . Jadrea Seeley scored 17 points to lead No. 20 Oklahoma (6-3) past North Texas (8-1), 75-61, at Norman, Okla. . . . Lauren Beckman scored 11 points as No. 25 Utah overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to beat Oregon State, 53-49, at Corvallis, Ore.