Iowa St. can’t handle Appel

BERKELEY, Calif. – Iowa State’s scheme was obvious to Jayne Appel even before the opening tip. The Cyclones put all their energy into guarding the Stanford center’s teammates, forcing Appel to try to beat them herself.

And what a beating it was – one that will forever have a prominent place in Stanford’s illustrious basketball history, long after the resulting Final Four trip by the Big Appel and her Cardinal teammates.

Appel scored a school-record 46 points in the third highest-scoring effort in NCAA tournament annals, overwhelming Iowa State’s single-coverage defense and securing Stanford’s second straight Final Four appearance with a 74-53 victory in the Berkeley Regional final on Monday night.

Stanford’s imposing 6-foot-4 junior with neon-pink fingernails and a dancer’s grace broke Candice Wiggins’ single-game school scoring record with her final basket for the Cardinal (33-4). Dominating from the first possession, she made 19 of her 28 shots, and with 16 rebounds nearly outrebounded Iowa State by herself before being mobbed by teammates at the final buzzer.

“I came into the gym with the mind-set that I wasn’t going to leave without the net,” said Appel, the Pac-10 player of the year who erased her previous career high by 13 points.

She left little doubt about Stanford’s 20th straight victory and eighth Final Four berth, although coach Tara VanDerveer never felt comfortable until the final seconds.

Appel dazzled the supportive Bay Area crowd with one beguiling move after another, seemingly oblivious to Iowa State’s sadly inadequate low-post coverage. Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly was left grinning in frustration on the bench.

“Tara told me she was pretty sure they weren’t going to double me, so we knew immediately that we were going to go inside,” Appel said.

Appel’s postgame understatement made her teammates smirk. During warmups, VanDerveer told Appel she might have a chance to score 50, given the Cyclones’ plan to counteract what hurt them in an 83-45 November loss when Appel scored just six points but set up her teammates for 13 3-pointers.

At the Final Four in St. Louis, the Cardinal will meet tonight’s Trenton Regional winner, Connecticut or Arizona State.

“In my mind, there’s no doubt that Stanford is the only team that has a chance to beat (UConn),” Fennelly said.

“I wasn’t concerned about how many points (Appel) scored,” Fennelly added. “Our plan was to make 10 or 11 3s, and take away the 3 from them. We needed to score when we had open looks at the basket.”

They were 7 of 26 on 3s.