Appel, Pohlen score 26 each to lead No. 2 Stanford over Oregon 104-60

No. 2 Stanford beats Oregon for 15th straight win

STANFORD, Calif. — Jayne Appel had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Jeanette Pohlen scored a career-high 26 points as No. 2 Stanford broke out to a 32-point halftime lead on the way to its 43rd straight home win, 104-60 over Oregon on Thursday night.

The Cardinal (24-1, 14-0 Pac-10) have won 15 straight games and were never challenged by the undersized Ducks (16-9, 7-6). They matched their highest-scoring first half of the season to take a 59-27 lead and then just added to the margin from there, making eight of their first nine shots in the second half to take a 90-50 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

The Cardinal can clinch at least a share of a 10th straight Pac-10 regular season title and the top seed in the conference tournament by beating Oregon State in their final home game of the regular season on Saturday.

Micaela Cocks scored 20 and Victoria Kenyon added 13 points for the Ducks, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Oregon has lost 11 straight games to Stanford and dropped to 1-23 all-time in road matchups against the Cardinal.

Appel got off to a slow start to her senior season following knee surgery over the summer, but is playing her best basketball as the season hits the home stretch. She is averaging 21.4 points and 13 rebounds over her past five games, peaking at the right time of year.

She had plenty of help this game. Pohlen was 6 for 9 on 3-pointers and had seven assists to go with the highest scoring game of her career. Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 17 points and Kayla Pedersen added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Stanford shot 56 percent for the game and turned the ball over 10 times against the Oregon press. The Cardinal held the Ducks to 32 percent shooting and 25 points under their season average of 85.3 points per game. Oregon leading scorer Taylor Lilley managed only five points on 1-for-8 shooting.

After struggling for much of the first meeting with Oregon before pulling away late, the Cardinal had no problems at all in their second meeting against the full-court pressing, up-tempo Ducks. Stanford handled the press with ease, getting many open looks after breaking the pressure.

The Cardinal took control early in this game, going on a 10-0 run midway through the opening half to take a 24-9 lead. The advantage kept growing from there as Stanford scored in almost every way imaginable. Pedersen even got one easy basket after throwing an inbound pass off the back of an Oregon defender and taking the ball in for an easy layup that made it 42-22.

A late 11-0 run, featuring a 3-pointer from Pohlen and backk-to-back long-range shots from Rosalyn Gold-Onwude helped Stanford take a 59-27 lead into the break.