Stanford rips UTEP for Sweet 16 spot

STANFORD, Calif. - Before walking onto the Maples Pavilion floor for the last time in a Stanford uniform Monday night, Candice Wiggins gathered her teammates in a hallway just behind the court. In a private moment, she gave a speech.

"I look around and I see a different-looking team than the one that lost in the second round last year," she said as the Cardinal players closed in around her. "We're going to win . . . The committee, UTEP, nobody is going to give it to us on our home floor. We've got to take it."

Wiggins took it. She took Stanford to the Sweet 16 for the third time in her sterling career in perhaps her most devastating performance. The senior guard scored 44 points and Stanford defeated Texas-El Paso 88-54 to advance in the NCAA tournament. The second-seeded Cardinal (32-3) will face No. 6 seed Pittsburgh, which upset No.3 Baylor, next weekend in Spokane, Wash.

Wiggins tied Kate Starbird for the most points scored by a Stanford player in one game. (Starbird did it against USC on Jan. 13, 1996.) But it wasn't simply Wiggins' accurate shooting. She willed Stanford into the regional semifinals, also collecting nine rebounds and six assists.

"She talked about the slight" by the NCAA selection committee, said Wiggins' friend Marissa Rivera, a high school teammate at La Jolla Country Day. Wiggins and the Cardinal thought they deserved to be seeded first in the Spokane Regional. But Maryland received the No. 1 spot.

UTEP (28-4), the seventh seed and champion of Conference USA, was expected to disrupt the Cardinal's flow with a quick, three-guard attack and 6-foot-5 Izabela Piekarska plugging the middle.

But as Miners guard Natasha Lacy said the previous day, it would take a team effort to stop Wiggins, the Pac-10's all-time scoring leader. The Miners made a big mistake in not swarming her early.

Wiggins wasted no time in leading the way in front of 5,530 fans at Maples. She ended the first half with 24 points, five rebounds and three assists. She made 9 of 16 shots, including two three-pointers, as the Cardinal led 40-29. It was a vintage performance from one of the greatest players to wear a Stanford uniform.

The hyped matchup against Lacy never developed. Lacy, who played three seasons for Texas Christian before transferring to UTEP, failed to score in the half.

If not for Timika Williams' smooth shooting, the Miners might not have kept it competitive. Williams, a 6-1 sophomore, moved away from the basket to take advantage of her quickness against Stanford's 6-4 freshman Kayla Pedersen. Williams scored 10 points, making three of four from beyond the arc.

A Williams three-pointer gave UTEP a 10-6 lead. But with 16:37 left in the half, Wiggins showed she wasn't going to let her team lose. As Jareica Hughes drove to what appeared to be an uncontested basket, Wiggins soared across the lane to block the shot.

Jayne Appel scored at the other end to make it 10-8 before Williams made another three-pointer for the Miners. Wiggins then drove and was fouled for a three-point play, and an Appel layup tied the score 13-13.

The Cardinal outscored UTEP 27-16 to end the half.

Wiggins kept it rolling early in the second half. Her three-pointer with 16:36 to play gave her 30 points and Stanford a 20-point cushion.