STANFORD, Calif. — Freshman guard Jeanette Pohlen understands playing time could be limited this year with an All-American and three other returning guards ahead of her.
She’s satisfied with making contributions whenever she gets on the court.
Pohlen scored a career-high 20 points, all in the second half, and No. 2 Stanford beat Washington 77-42 on Sunday.
“When I do get in and get good, open looks I’ll take them,” said Pohlen, who was 6-for-9 from the field, including a 3-for-5 effort from long range.
Fellow freshman Kayla Pedersen added 12 points and 12 rebounds to help the Cardinal (12-1, 2-0 Pac-10) hand the Huskies (5-9, 0-2) their worst loss of the season.
“It’s good for others to contribute,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “Jeanette came in and gave us a spark. Washington’s game plan seemed to be to double Jayne and Kayla and stop Candice. We had to beat them some other way and Jeanette did a great job.”
Washington’s Kali Bennett had 11 points and matched her season high with 11 rebounds. Jess McCormack also had 11 points.
“We wanted to give them a good game,” Huskies’ first-year coach Tia Jackson said. “We tried to take away their three-headed monster and we came out with a good defensive plan. We did what we wanted.”
Stanford won its ninth straight since losing to then-No. 2 Connecticut on Nov. 22. The Cardinal also improved to 179-12 in conference home games since VanDerveer, who earned her 700th career win against Washington State on Friday, took over as coach.
The Huskies are winless in six road games.
No. 11 California 99, Washington State 44: At Berkeley, Calif., Washington State completed its opening week of Pacific-10 Conference play against its second consecutive ranked opponent, falling to No. 11 California 99-44 at the Haas Pavilion.
WSU, now 3-10 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-10, also fell to second-ranked Stanford Friday in its conference opener, Dec. 28.
California improved to 11-2 on the season and 2-0 in conference action.
“We made a lot of progress tonight,” WSU head coach June Daugherty said. “The team stayed in the game plan for a full 40 minutes. That is a big step, especially against the No. 11 team in the country.”
Sophomore guard Alexa Price led the Cougars with a career-high 14 points after hitting each of her first four 3-point attempts.
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