More than Wiggins

For those who didn’t know, there’s more to the Stanford women’s basketball team than John Wooden Award candidate Candice Wiggins.

With their senior standout having an unusually quiet game, the Cardinal found plenty of contributions from others, especially the inside tandem of Jayne Appel and Kayla Pedersen, as Stanford pulled away from game Pittsburgh 72-53 in the late Sweet 16 matchup Saturday in the Arena.

Second-seeded Stanford (33-3) advances to the Elite Eight and will take on top-seeded Maryland (33-3) at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

In the end, perennial NCAA tournament qualifier Stanford, which won for the 21st straight time, was too much for upstart and unranked Pittsburgh (24-11). But it was difficult to tell that the Panthers were playing in their first Sweet 16 – at least in the first half.

Wiggins finished with 14 points, five less than her average. She had a career-high 44 in Stanford’s second-round win over UTEP.

“Well, we knew that they were going to focus on (me),” Wiggins said. “It was pretty clear they didn’t want me to score 44 points again. I was working to be patient. I was looking to get Jayne looks on the blocks. Everybody was knocking down shots, so it wasn’t really a necessity (for her to score). I wasn’t really frustrated or anything like that.”

Appel, a sophomore, and Pedersen, a freshman, were huge inside. Appel finished with a team-high 22 points and 13 rebounds and Pedersen had 12 points to go with 16 rebounds, an Arena record.

Stanford owned the Panthers on the board. The Cardinal finished with 54 rebounds to Pittsburgh’s 30.

Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer thought it took her a team a half to get going.

“I thought in the first half we really weren’t able to establish any flow offensively,” VanDerveer said. “They were really all over Candice. … I think that it kind of accounted for some of our bad timing and I thought that some people were trying to make some plays that really weren’t there.”

Stanford, which led 47-46 with 8 minutes, 18 seconds remaining, used a 9-0 run to begin to separate from Pittsburgh.

With the Panthers chasing and shadowing Wiggins’ every move, the Cardinal exploited Pittsburgh inside. The Cardinal’s inside players frequently kicked out to a wide-open Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, who scored 15 points. She made 3 of 4 3-pointers.

“Honestly, my success really comes from the fact that we have such great players like (Appel) and (Wiggins) and that’s just the honest truth,” Gold-Onwude said.

The Panthers couldn’t stop Appel or Pedersen.

“They really took it to us on the inside,” Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato said. “Their rebounding was a huge factor.”

The first half was tightly contested.

The Panthers limited Wiggins to six points in the first half. She didn’t make her first basket until the 8:42 mark.

A rebound basket by Gold-Onwude gave the Cardinal their biggest lead at 15-9 with 11:29 to go before halftime. The basket came off a rushed 3-pointer by Wiggins, her first of the game.

Pitt took the lead at 20-19 when Shavonte Zellous, who scored 15 of her 22 points in the first half, hit a baseline jumper with 7:16 left.

Panthers center Marcedes Walker scored her first basket on a tough 6-foot jump hook from the short corner that tied the score at 25-all with 3:32 to go.

Zellous scored her sixth basket, an 8-foot jumper just inside the free-throw line, to give Pitt the lead at 27-25. She hit a free throw with 15.9 seconds to go to give the Panthers their final lead at 28-27.

Stanford retook on a late Gold-Onwude layup.

There were seven ties and nine lead changes in the first half.

The Panthers showed uncanny poise in the first half, committing just two turnovers.

Although Stanford is playing in its 21st straight NCAA tournament, the Cardinal are looking to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 1997.

Stanford 72, Pittsburgh 53

Pittsburgh (24-11)—Stewart 1-6 1-2 4, Winn 3-13 4-4 13, Zellous 8-16 6-10 22, Sallard 1-6 0-0 2, Walker 1-3 0-0 2, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0, Scott 2-6 0-0 4, Braxton 0-0 0-0 0, Lim 0-0 0-0 0, Tafen 0-0 0-0 0, Harrison 2-8 1-2 5, Cole 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 18-61 13-20 53.

Stanford (33-3)—Appel 7-16 8-10 22, Hones 2-7 0-0 4, Wiggins 5-13 4-7 14, Pedersen 4-10 4-6 12, Gold-Onwude 6-8 0-0 15, Donaghe 0-0 0-0 0, Pierce 0-1 0-0 0, Pohlen 1-2 0-0 2, Cimino 0-0 0-0 0, Clyburn 0-0 1-2 1, Harmon 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 26-61 17-25 72.

Halftime—Stanford 29, Pittsburgh 28. 3-Point Goals—Pittsburgh 4-19 (Winn 3-9, Stewart 1-3, Zellous 0-1, Scott 0-2, Harrison 0-4), Stanford 3-11 (Gold-Onwude 3-4, Hones 0-3, Wiggins 0-4). Fouled Out—Gold-Onwude. Rebounds—Pittsburgh 30 (Scott, Zellous 5), Stanford 54 (Pedersen 16). Assists—Pittsburgh 5 (Winn 2), Stanford 12 (Hones, Wiggins 4). Total Fouls—Pittsburgh 21, Stanford 16. A—NA.