Cardinal clinches conference championship

With their 62-43 victory over the Sun Devils tonight, the Cardinal clinched sole ownership of the Pac-10 championship.

This is the:
– 6th consecutive season that they've done that
– 10th consecutive season that they've had at least a share of the top spot
– 19th time in the 24-year history of the Pac-10 that they've been the champion or co-champion

It was about as ugly a win as I've ever seen, but it was a win!

The Cardinal took control with the tipoff and were ahead by 10 at the four-minute mark. Which was fortunate, because that's about where it stayed – give or take a point or two – until the last four minutes, when the Sun Devils finally wore out and the Cardinal was able to extend the lead.

Both teams were extremely aggressive and neither coped with that very well. Much to their credit, Jayne, Kayla and Jeanette refused to give up and scored in double digits.

Jayne led the scoring with 19 points. She also had eight rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

Kayla added 12 points, four assists, six rebounds and a steal.

Jeanette had 11 points, four assists and three steals.

Ros never gave up on defense, even after taking a blow to the head in a multi-player pileup near the end of the first half. (I think someone sat on her head.) She held Danielle Orsillo scoreless in the first half and allowed her just four field goals in the second.

Here are the game reports:

• Stanford Stymies Arizona State, 62-43 from the Associated Press
• ASU Sun Devils can't keep pace with Stanford Cardinal by Sarah McLellan, Arizona Republic
• Stanford women hit a 10 in Pac-10 hoops by Rick Eymer, Palo Alto Online
• Stanford 62 ASU 43 from The CARD Board

The box score and play-by-play,

And more photos:

Ros drives for a shot Jeanette steals the ball from Danielle Orsillo Kayla grabs a rebound Jayne blocks Janae Fulcher's shot Kayla forces a jump ball Nneka fights for a rebound Kayla pressures Becca Tobin