Cardinal Pull Away From Panthers, Terrapins Await

By Kecia Bailey: SPM CA Writer
Posted Sunday, March 30, 2008

SPOKANE, Wash. – “It wasn’t pretty,” was how Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer characterized the #2 seed Cardinal’s hard-fought win against the upset-minded #6 seed Pittsburgh Panthers 72-53 Saturday night in the second regional semi-final of the Spokane Regional.

The first half was a see-saw affair, befitting a game with a ticket to the Elite Eight awaiting the winner. The two teams fought hard and forced seven ties and nine lead changes. Just when it seemed as thought the Cardinal would start to pull away when they gained their largest lead of six in the first half, the Panthers came roaring back with an 11-4 run to take a 20-19 lead with 7:19 to go.

Rosalyn Gold-Onwude’s layup five seconds before the halftime buzzer put Stanford up 29-28 as they sprinted into the locker room. Pitt’s junior guard Shavonte Zellous led all scorers at the half with a spectacular display of offensive playmaking. (AND ? POINTS?)

From the outset, the game was physical. Stanford and Pitt both had big strong anchors in the paint, sophomore center Jayne Appel and senior center Marcedes Walker, respectively.

“At tournament time it is a lot more physical than regular-season play,” Appel said. She got the best of the battle, though, finishing with a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Walker -- on the other hand -- was kept contained, scoring her only two points in the first half and grabbing just four rebounds, well below her season averages (13.9 ppg/9.6 rpg). Stanford’s pre-game scouting report pointed out that Pitt had not won a game in which Walker scored 10 points or fewer.

Appel, who drew the primary defensive assignment against her counterpart said, “I made it a goal of mine to make sure I was doing my part in stopping her. I knew my teammates would be there also. That was our main focus on defense.”

In addition to containing Walker defensively, getting her in foul trouble was also part of the Cardinal game plan. Walker picked up her fourth with 11:42 to go in the game and Pitt coach Agnus Berenato had to pull her. With Stanford up 49-46 and Walker still sitting, Berenato also sat Zellous, who had signaled that she needed a break at the 7:46 mark. The absence of Pitt’s two top scorers gave the Cardinal the opportunity to make a move and they took it. By the time Walker and Zellous checked back in, Stanford had pushed its lead to 56-46 and never looked back.

The Cardinal's inside game and dedication to the boards ultimately proved to be too much for Pitt. Stanford outscored Pitt 38-8 in the paint and outrebounded them 54-30.

“They really took it to us on the inside. The rebounding was a huge factor,” Berenato said. Stanford defense also held the Panthers under 30 percent (29.5) shooting from the floor for the game.

By happenstance, on the eve of their regional semifinal game, the Cardinal team ran into actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. at their team hotel. He was in town filming a movie. Gooding, Jr. coincidentally starred “Men of Honor,” the movie Stanford had used as their inspirational theme for their second round game. After hearing him speak to the team and sharing a conversation about fast-food the night before, a particularly inspired sophomore guard Roslyn Gold-Onwude played a major role of her own in the second half. With Stanford trying to wrestle control of the game, Gold-Onwude, who scored 15 points, hit two 3-pointers in the second half to turn back Pitt charges.

“Her hitting some shots and her playing as well as she did, she really took a lot of pressure off of Candice and also off JJ,” VanDerveer said. “When she got going and was so into it, that was really the key for us.”

Wiggins, coming off a school record-tying 44 point performance in Stanford’s second-round victory over UTEP, had a quiet night as she looked to be patient on the offensive end.

“It was pretty clear they were not going to want me to score 44 points again,” she said of the defensive attention Pittsburgh gave her. “I really didn’t need to shoot, everyone was doing really well so I was looking to get Jayne looks on the block. Everyone was knocking down shots so it [her scoring] wasn’t really a necessity.”

Wiggins scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and tied her teammate sophomore guard JJ Hones in dishing out a game-high four assists.

Freshman forward Kayla Pedersen finished her second double-double of the tournament scoring 13 points and grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds.

Pitt was led by Zellous’ 22 game-high points. Senior guard Mallorie Winn added 13.

Pitt concludes the season with a 24-11 record.

With the win (its 21st consecutive), the Cardinal improved to 33-3 and advances to its eleventh Elite Eight in school history, and first appearance since 2006.