STANFORD, Calif. — Tara VanDerveer called out her team’s lack of fire, aggressiveness and energy.
She challenged Stanford’s star players to pick it up — and in a hurry.
“I just don’t see the fire from our big three I want to see,” VanDerveer said. “We have to be able to bring it every night. I’ve seen our team practice harder than we’ve seen in games. We can use it as a wake-up call. You don’t have to lose for it to be a wake-up call.”
Nnemkadi Ogwumike had 20 points and 13 rebounds and No. 2 Stanford held off scrappy Washington 66-51 on Saturday for its 38th straight home victory at Maples Pavilion despite being short-handed.
Kayla Pedersen added 14 points and five assists as Stanford (15-1, 5-0 Pac-10) overcame a subpar outing and the switch of starting lineups for the first time this season because of an injury to point guard Jeanette Pohlen.
The Cardinal committed 17 turnovers but still did enough right to earn their eighth straight win in the series and 12th in 13. Stanford’s lone loss to the Huskies during that stretch coming on Dec. 22, 2005, a 77-72 defeat in Seattle.
“Today’s game was definitely uninspired,” guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude said. “Tara made a good point in the locker room after the game. It’s been a string of games we’ve won because we’re better, bigger or more maybe talented, not necessarily because we’re playing inspired. I think we need to pick it up.”
Christina Rozier scored 13 points and made all three of her 3-point tries to lead the Huskies (8-8, 3-3), who had their season-best three-game winning streak snapped Thursday at California. Washington leading scorer Sami Whitcomb, who came in averaging 14 points per game, went 0 for 7 in the first half, missed her first eight overall and finished with 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting before fouling out with 1:11 remaining.
All-America center Jayne Appel was whistled for her third foul at the 18:25 mark of the second half and took a seat. She was held to seven points but also had nine rebounds and five assists for the Cardinal.
Stanford missed its first five shots out of halftime and had a turnover, while Washington used a 7-0 spurt after intermission to pull to 35-28 before Ogwumike’s three-point play at 17:09. The Cardinal shot 6 for 19 from 3-point range and 12 of 21 from the free-throw line, missing five straight during one stretch late in the second half.
“Well, uh, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to see,” VanDerveer said. “I just thought it was kind of a disappointing effort compared to my expectations for how we want our team to play. … The pace seemed lackadaisical. We never really were aggressive.”
Stanford didn’t dominate the Washington schools on its home floor quite the way it did a year ago — by a combined 126 points. That included a 112-35 victory over Washington, with the 77-point margin of victory the biggest in Stanford program history.
Washington wanted to forget that one.
“It’s history,” coach Tia Jackson said. “I feel like we played a very good team fairly well. It’s always a tough environment. It’s something our kids can hang our hat on as far as the effort and competition out there.”
The Huskies came out cold in this one but hung tough in the second half with the perennial Pac-10 champion and national powerhouse.
“We played a one-point game with them in the second half. To me that’s unacceptable,” Appel said.
Added Ogwumike: “If a team beat me by 77, I would want to come back and kick their butts. They played well. They gave us a run for our money.”
The Cardinal, who beat Washington State 80-43 on Thursday night, quickly took it to the Huskies but couldn’t break the game open as they did in last year’s meeting here. After an early timeout, Stanford produced a 17-2 run to build a 23-8 lead. Rozier’s 3-pointer at 9:14 ended a scoreless stretch of 5 minutes, 36 seconds by Washington.
But Washington didn’t get another field goal until Rozier’s 3 with 2:10 remaining before halftime. Stanford led 35-21 at the break.
The Cardinal made 10 of their first 18 shots.
Sophomore Lindy La Rocque earned her second career start for Stanford in place of Pohlen, who hurt her right ankle early in the second half of Thursday’s win.
Saturday’s game marked the first Pohlen has missed in her career after the junior had played in 92 straight, including 53 consecutive starts. This is her third sprain of the same ankle this season.
JJ Hones also did not dress for the Cardinal for a second straight game to rest her swollen surgically repaired left knee.
VanDerveer isn’t sure when either player will return, but won’t use their absences as an excuse.
“I think it’s an insult to the players who are on our team,” she said. “Yes, we do miss JJ and Jeanette but we’ve had games with them that we were playing less than inspired, not aggressive, crazy turnovers, not as a mature, experienced team.”
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