March 24, 2008

Photo Gallery: UTEP v Stanford. Photos by Ivan Pierre Aguirre 

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Stanford's Candice Wiggins scored a school-record tying 44 points in her last game at Maples Pavilion on Monday night, leading the second-seeded Cardinal past UTEP 88-54 and into the NCAA tournament's round of 16.

It was the third most points scored in women's tournament history and the most since Sheryl Swoopes had 47 in the 1993 championship game for Texas Tech. Lorri Bauman of Drake has the all-time record of 50, set in 1982 against Maryland.

Wiggins took the ball to the basket from every which way. She hit long 3s and hit the floor. She blocked shots and blocked out. She found her teammates with pretty passes, too. She shot 15-for-27 with six 3-pointers, had 10 rebounds, eight assists, three steals and a block. Her performance tied Kate Starbird's school record and was the highest scoring tournament game ever by a Stanford player.

Wiggins' 24-point first half followed a similar performance Jayne Appel - who scored 29 of her career-high 33 points in the opening half of Stanford's first-round rout of Cleveland State. Appel did her part again Monday, getting 20 points on 9-for-9 shooting, five rebounds and six assists. Kayla Pedersen added 11 points and 11 boards.

After Wiggins' 3-pointer with 16:42 to play gave the Cardinal a 51-31 cushion, Wiggins backpedaled while shaking her head as if even she was impressed. UTEP quickly took a timeout, but by then it was too late.

Izabela Piekarska had 17 points and eight rebounds for NCAA newcomer UTEP (28-4), which had won 24 of its last 25 games. The Miners shot 29 percent and never found a groove on either end against the inspired Cardinal.