USC Tonight

Wiggins’ legend by the numbers, by Scott Bland (The Stanford Daily)

Candice is due to break the Stanford career scoring record (12 to go) and the career free throw record (7 to go) in tonight's game against USC. Scott Bland reviews her superlative-laden career so far.

Payback time, by Haley Murphy (The Stanford Daily)

Kayla Pedersen's observation on tonight's game, “I believe that our team is very motivated for this next game especially because we feel like we have more to prove after those losses. This game is our second chance and we don’t want to disappoint especially when we are at home.”

Women face a tough Cardinal team, by Allison Hong (Daily Trojan)

Coach Mark Trakh's observation on tonight's game, "I don't think they need any motivation. It doesn't matter who they play, they're going to give 100 percent every time ... They're just going to be very, very tough."

Pac-10 might be overrated, by Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle)

Michelle Smith evaluates the top six conferences.

L.A. comes to the Bay Area

JJ Hones has come into her own as a point guard

Huge redemption week ahead for Stanford women, by Jon Wilner (Mercury News)

The Bruins and Trojans, who visit Maples Pavilion this weekend, will face a much different team - more balanced, more efficient, more ruthless - than they did three weeks ago.

Lessons of losses loom large for Cal, Stanford, by Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle)

"I think they go out and play hard no matter what, and I don't think they need motivation," [USC coach Mark] Trakh said. "They are one game behind Cal, they want to win the conference again, and I don't think they care who they are playing."

Women’s team braces for the Bay, by Kendall Salter (Daily Bruin)

If the Bruins (11-9, 6-3) are to pull off a win in what is perhaps the toughest road swing in the Pac-10, their bench players will be a factor.

Pac-10 Player of the Week

Candice is Pac-10 Player of the Week for the third time this season and the eighth in her career.

She is now in a six-way tie for the most career weekly honors in conference history with Tanja Kostic, OSU (1993-1996), Lisa Leslie, USC (1991-94), Cherie Nelson, USC (1987-89), Noelle Quinn, UCLA (2004-2007) and Natalie Williams, UCLA (1991-94).

Here's the official announcement

Walk-ons have what it takes to compete

An article by Kelli Anderson in the Stanford Magazine about unrecruited athletes asserts, "Some toil in obscurity for a shred of playing time, while a few rise to stardom. All of them play with something to prove—that they have what it takes to compete."

None prove this better than two of the Cardinal Women's Basketball walk-ons:

Take Markisha Coleman, who grew up in East Palo Alto and started coming to Stanford women’s basketball games and camps as a girl. “When I was younger I really wanted to play basketball for Stanford,” she says. “When I was in high school, I wanted to go here because of academics, too.” Coleman, ’07, chose Stanford over Brown and Dartmouth and walked onto the basketball team as a freshman. Two years later, after distinguishing herself as a tenacious practice player, she earned a scholarship. She never played much, but she found satisfaction in her role. “Even if the coach doesn’t call you into a game, it’s still your victory,” she says. “You work hard in practice, you make your teammates better.”

Indeed, a few true walk-ons turn out to have plenty of talent. Kate Paye turned down scholarship offers at Cal and Arizona to walk onto the women’s basketball team as a freshman. Paye, ’95, JD/MBA ’02, earned a scholarship the next year, was the starting point guard her final two years and played professionally for six seasons. “Kate bought into a different level of intensity at the college level; she really outworked people,” says VanDerveer. “She was patient and listened and was very coachable and smart. And whereas other people were ahead of her in high school, by the time she graduated, she was ready for the pros.”

Despite all her success in the game, Paye still thinks of herself as a walk-on. “It’s something I take pride in,” she says. “I created my own opportunity, and I fought for it and worked for it. I took a chance on something I believed in—myself. Besides, I like to tease all my Stanford teammates that I got in without being an athlete. I got in on my own.”

More Big Game reports

Not tired of reading about the Big Game yet? Here are a few more reports:

• Stanford holds its ground by Ann Killion (Mercury News)
  
  The event had everything: Hype, national rankings, a big crowd, everything it needed to overshadow the men's matchup across the bay. Everything, that is, except much of a game.
  
  
• Paint it Cardinal by Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle)
  
  Maybe Cal is ready for its turn in the Pac-10 women's spotlight, but Stanford isn't relinquishing its spot just yet.
  
  
• Stanford shows, Cal barely there by Eric Gilmore (Contra Costa Times)
  
  In their biggest game of a historically good season, the Bears were no-shows. OK, not literally. Their bus showed up at Maples. But the Bears left their "A," "B" and "C" games behind in Berkeley. Instead of the so-called Battle of the Bay, we had the Blowout by the Bay.
  
  
• Cal women can't handle big-time stage by Carl Steward (Inside Bay Area)
  
  Changing of the guard in Pac-10 women's basketball? Sorry, ladies, not yet, not until Cal figures out how to guard Candice Wiggins a whole lot more efficiently. Better neutralizing Jayne Appel and solving Stanford's stifling interior defense would improve the Golden Bears' chances as well, and hey, a change of venue certainly probably wouldn't hurt.
  
  

Defense: A+

That's what Tara wrote on the white board in the locker room at half time.

The Cardinal's Big Bear defense held Devanei Hampton to 3 points, Ashley Walker to 10, and Cal to a season-low 30.8 field goal percentage.
A+ indeed!

• Bears Shut Down on the Farm by Viet Nyugen (The Bear Insider)
  
  In a much-hyped game between two top-10 teams, California fell to Stanford 72-52. While Cal’s defense has been ranked atop the Pac-10, it was Stanford’s defense that had a stranglehold on this game from the opening tip.
  
  
• Hones helps shoot down Cal's perfect record by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online)
  
  JJ Hones found her long range shot and the Stanford women's basketball team found new life with its 72-52 victory over visiting California on Saturday in a crucial Pac-10 contest in front of 6,175 fans at Maples Pavilion.
  
  
• Appel's fancy passing - a revelation - helps Stanford women stuff Cal by Gwen Knapp (San Francisco Chronicle
  
  She scored only nine points, yet made the offense flow. She recorded seven assists, a hefty number, but not enough to describe her textbook passing out of post. If a coach ever wants to teach a young center how to handle a double-team, a videotape from this game will do the job.
  
  
• An audio slide show by NHat V. Meyer (Mercury News)
  
  
• The AP game recap, photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics.

Battle of the three-headed monsters?

You wouldn't think so when they're sitting on the bench giggling, but that's how Scott Bland (The Stanford Daily) describes Candice, Jayne and Kayla -- Stanford's three-headed monster that drives the offense, scoring 60% of the Cardinal's points this season.

And Cal also has a three-headed monster -- Devanei Hampton, Alexis Gray-Lawson and Ashley Walker, the So Berkeley trio that are the foundation of the turnaround of the Cal women's program.

Pac-10 bragging rights and a pair of top 10 national rankings will both be at stake Saturday.

Joanne Boyle said, "The Pac-10 championship goes through Stanford. It's been going through there for a long time. We want what they have and we're going to have go over there and take it from them ...they're not going to give it to us.'

Tara said, “It’s like a tournament atmosphere. There is a certain excitement when something is on the line. In some ways it’s more fun chasing. It’s going to be a challenging game.”

Here's the Stanford Daily article, another from Sports Illustrated and a third from the San Francisco Chronicle

The Big Game from Cal's point of view

Here are some stories about Saturday's Big Game from Cal's point of view:

Reaching new heights at Cal by Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle)

"We're not happy to just win one game," [Devanei] Hampton said. "We have a lot more we want to accomplish. We have a mission statement on our locker room door and we've all signed it. It's like our blood oath."

Cal aims to knock Cardinal from grace by Andrew Kim (The Daily Californian)

"We want what they have, and we're going to have to go in there and take it from them," [coach Joanne] Boyle said. "They play well when they're up against the wall, and they're going to come out firing. We have to go take it."

With Boyle leading the way, Bears rise up in Bay Area by Graham Hays (ESPN)

Before Joanne Boyle arrived at Cal, the Bears hadn't had a winning record or reached the postseason in 13 years. Now, Cal is ranked eighth, has won nine games in a row and is sitting atop the Pac-10.

It's must-win time

Women seek revenge against Cal by Wyndam Makowsky (The Stanford Daily)
One of the most lopsided rivalries in women’s basketball has suddenly become competitive, and the stakes are as high as ever.

Stanford's Pac-10 title defense in jeopardy by Darren Sabedra (Mercury News)
But eight games into this season's race - one Stanford was expected to claim yet again - the No. 7 Cardinal has come across an unfamiliar pothole: It's must-win time.

Ex-Cardinal Smith now helping the blue and gold by Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle)
"I'm fired up," [Charmin] Smith said. "It's going to be a little weird being in Maples on the other bench and in the visitors' locker room."

Thoughts on the Big Game

Bay Area journalists are writing about the Stanford/Cal women's basketball rivalry:

• Defining meeting between, yes, equals by Ray Ratto (San Francisco Chronicle)
  
  Saturday's game between the two sides at Maples Pavilion offers a chance for both the Fightin' Boyles and the Snarlin' VanDerveers to consolidate their newfound equality on the floor with a packed house of fully invested fans. A great game is therefore mandatory. Some nasty postgame controversy would be even better.
  
  
• A big game week like no other by Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle)
  
  This article is all about Candice, who said, "This is obviously a big game for us, but every game is a big game for us. We have to play our game and set the tone right away. It's going be a battle, we know that. But our best games have been against our biggest challengers."
  
  
• Let's tip off a doubleheader by Jon Wilner, Mercury News
  
  The Cal and Stanford men's and women's basketball teams collide Saturday in two big games featuring three ranked teams with four combined records of 59-14.
  
  But the games are on different sides of the bay at conflicting times: the women at Stanford at 2 p.m. and the men at Cal at 4 p.m.
  
  Short of helicopter transport, there's no way to catch both games. And that got us thinking here at the Mercury News sport department:
  
  Why not have all four teams play at the same site on the same day - not on campus, at neutral sites.
  
  This is certainly an interesting idea. Voice your opinion in the poll included in the article: Would you attend a Cal-Stanford basketball doubleheader?