Stanford Silences USC

PALO ALTO â€”  It has never been a disgrace to lose to the Stanford women’s basketball team on its home floor.

USC came into Maples Pavilion Friday night wondering if this time might be different since the 14th-ranked Cardinal had shown signs of vulnerability this season.

Instead, Stanford ran away with a 77-56 Pacific 10 Conference victory, giving the Cardinal its 59th win in its last 63 games at Maples and improving Coach Tara VanDerveer’s home record to 263-29.

Candice Wiggins had a season-high 26 points and nine rebounds for Stanford (7-4 overall, 2-1 Pac-10). Brooke Smith had 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Cardinal avoided its first three-game losing streak since dropping consecutive games to Arizona, Oregon State and Oregon in the 2000-01 season.

“I really thought ... for the first time this was the Candice I remembered from last year when she made so much happen,� VanDerveer said.

USC (8-4, 2-1), which had 16 points from Camille LeNoir and 11 from Eshaya Murphy, has now lost five in a row to Stanford, dating to Feb. 19, 2004.

“We felt confident, knowing they had lost their last two games,� LeNoir said. “But Stanford is still a great team. We never doubted that.�

USC kept pace with the Cardinal early, even holding a 13-10 lead at the 15:33 mark of the first half.

Then the Trojans hit a dry spell, with one field goal in the next seven minutes. Stanford took advantage with a 16-3 run to extend its lead to 26-16.

By the break, Stanford still had a 36-28 lead, and Wiggins almost single-handedly made sure her team wouldn’t blow a halftime lead as it had in losses to Washington and Boston College. She opened the second half by making a fastbreak layup, blocking a shot, making a three-point field goal and forcing a turnover.

Suddenly, the Stanford lead was back up to 13, at 41-28. USC -- which, other than LeNoir, would make only 16 of 45 shots overall -- would never get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

“They turned up their defensive intensity, and with a team as young as ours I don’t think our shot selection was very good in the second half,� USC Coach Mark Trakh said.

The Trojans wound up shooting 37.3% for the game, including 10 for 29 in the second half.

California 65, UCLA 58 -- Freshman Devanei Hampton scored 20 points and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds as the Bears scored their first home victory over the Bruins since 2001.

The Bears (10-3, 2-1) never trailed and held the Bruins to their lowest point total of the year as UCLA point guard Nikki Blue had her second consecutive subpar performance.

After scoring four points in a 79-64 victory over Oregon State Dec. 22, Blue missed her first 12 shots and didn’t get her first points until there was 4:36 left in the game. She finished with eight points. Lisa Willis topped UCLA (7-5, 2-1) with 17.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.