Cardinal survive Golden Bears

Jayne Appel scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half and Candice Wiggins overcame a horrid shooting game to score the go-ahead basket down the stretch, helping No. 7 Stanford beat No. 8 California 60-58 on Saturday in Berkeley, Calif., to take control of the Pac-10 race.

Wiggins missed 14 of her first 16 shots before stealing the ball from Devanei Hampton and scoring on an uncontested layup that gave the Cardinal a 58-56 lead with 2:47 to go. She hit a pullup jumper to give Stanford (25-3, 14-2) a four-point lead and the Cardinal hung on from there to complete the season sweep of the rival Golden Bears (23-4, 14-2).

With the win, Stanford moves into a tie for first place in the conference with two games remaining. If the Cardinal win at Washington and Washington State next weekend, they are assured of the top seed in the Pac-10 tournament and their eighth straight conference title.

The Bears had their chances late, but Lauren Greif missed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left and Stanford leading 60-58. Kayla Pedersen missed a front end of a 1-and-1 and Appel blocked Alexis Gray-Lawson’s shot with 8 seconds left.

(1) Connecticut 98, St. John’s 41: At Storrs, Conn., Ketia Swanier scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Huskies (26-1, 13-1 Big East) to the win over the Red Storm (13-13, 4-9).

Renee Montgomery added 18 for UConn.

(5) Rutgers 62, Providence 43: At Providence, R.I., Essence Carson scored 16 points, Kia Vaughn had 11 points and 10 rebounds and the Scarlet Knights (22-4, 11-1 Big East) gave coach C. Vivian Stringer her 799th career victory with the win over the Friars (12-14, 2-11).

(9) Baylor 59, Iowa State 54: At Ames, Iowa, Jessica Morrow scored 18 points and the Bears (23-3, 11-2 Big 12) rallied to defeat the Cyclones (16-10, 5-8).

Angela Tisdale added 14 for Baylor.