Cardinal's Big Three downs USC

There were no nice girls of Troy at Maples tonight. The Trojan Warriors showed up in full force and gave the Cardinal a much tougher game than the final score indicates. Stanford 69, USC 52.

The Cardinal started strong and had a 10-point lead halfway through the first half. The Trojans fought back and traded baskets with the Cardinal for the rest of the half. The Trojans made some adjustments at halftime, came back and cut the deficit to six points, but that's as close as they got. The Cardinal pulled away and held a 15-19 point lead for the rest of the game.

The Trojans didn't repeat the mistakes of their last two games. They crashed the boards and drew fouls. They got to the line 17 times and made 15 free throws. They got almost as many rebounds as the Cardinal (31-37). They got more steals (7-4) and forced more turnovers (11-10).

But their defense and their pair of sisters weren't as good as the Cardinal's.

The Cardinal defense held the Trojans to 29.3% shooting and 27.3% beyond the arc — well below their season averages of 38% and 34%.

When Nneka couldn't get the ball up and in past the Trojans' double- or triple-team, she often drew a foul. She got to the charity stripe 12 times. Her free-throw shooting was off tonight, and she made only eight of her attempts, but she ended as the high scorer with 22 points. She has now scored 2,143 points and moved past Jayne Appel into third place on Stanford's career scoring list. 73 more points will take her past Kate Starbird into second place. She's not apt to usurp Candice Wiggins, who holds the record with 2,629 points.

Chiney had another superb game. She scored 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked six shots – a career high.

Toni's defense of Ashley Corral was outstanding. Corral, one of the Trojans' top three scorers and their three-point specialist got away from Toni for just one three-pointer and two jumpers. Toni led the offense most of the game and made five assists with just two turnovers. The play of the game was her 60 foot pass to Nneka's fast break and layup. Toni also scored 15 points herself.

Only four other Cardinal got significant playing time — Joslyn, Lindy, Amber and Taylor. They didn't tally much in the box score, but were all major contributors to the defensive effort that won this game.

Here are game reports:

• No. 4 Stanford Extends Home Winning Streak, Beats USC 69-52 by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
• Chiney makes it an even dozen for double-doubles from Palo Alto Online
• Ogwumike sisters, Kokenis lead Stanford women past USC 69-52 by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)

The box score and play-by-play,

The game highlights video,

A gallery of photos by Don Feria for Stanford Photo,

And photos by Paul Sakuma (Associated Press):

Chiney gets past Cassie Harberts for a shot Nneka is triple-teamed One of Chiney's six blocks Toni drives in for a layup Chiney & Joslyn fight Cassie Harbert for the rebound Nneka is fouled Nneka gets a hand up Nneka checks Chiney's contact Sweet victory