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		Stanford women crush UCLA to win the Pac-10 tourney By Morris Phillips March 14, 2010

	Stanford’s players never look at the scoreboard. Of UCLA’s myriad of obstacles in trying to topple the top-seeded Cardinal, that might have been the biggest. While the Bruins scrapped and got energy from their vocal supporters when they were able to put together stretches of good play, Stanford was focused and efficient throughout. With the opportunity to add a unique chapter to their already rich history, Stanford took off early and never eased up in capturing the Pac-10 championship with a 70-46 win over UCLA. Stanford (30-1) becomes the first Pac-10 team to run the table in the regular season and the post-season tournament, winning 21 straight against conference foes. The Cardinal captured their eighth tourney championship, to go along with 10 consecutive regular season titles. Stanford will make a 23rd consecutive NCAA appearance beginning next week, and will be looking to go to the Final Four for the third straight year. Adding a third national title and taking measure of undefeated Connecticut now comes clearly into focus for a team that tore through the season like a racehorse with blinders. A 17-year span without a national championship--while watching the rise of Connecticut and the continued excellence of Tennessee–leaves Coach Tara VanDerveer’s program with one glaring omission on its resume. But Stanford coaches and players don’t talk about winning it all, or a rematch with undefeated Connecticut, just like they don’t look at the scoreboard. When the expected question about Connecticut and what it will take to beat them is asked, VanDerveer offers that "the same things that help you be successful against the really good competition that we play are the same things you need to do against UConn." "With our team, we’re really just trying to work on every possession." VanDerveer continued. ‘Let’s play defense the way we want to play defense. Let’s rebound the ball, the way we want to rebound the ball. When we come down on offense, it doesn’t really matter to me what the score is, let’s execute offensively, take care of the ball, and get the shot that we want.’" "It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. You have to do certain things well." On Sunday, Stanford started doing those things well from the opening tip. Looking to attack the undersized Bruins inside, the Cardinal feed the ball to Nnemkadi Ogwumike, early and often. Ogwumike scored 10 of Stanford’s first 21 points, as she again was the focus, a strategy that has taken hold since Center Jayne Appel injured her ankle. Meanwhile, the second-seeded Bruins struggled early, missing 10 of their first 14 shots and committing five turnovers. UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell felt her team didn’t answer the bell, but they got their wakeup call at halftime, and responded with an inspired second half. "I thought at times we were aggressive. And when we were, we were disruptive. But there’s no room for passiveness when you’re gunning for a championship," Caldwell said. For the first 15 minutes of the second half, UCLA was competitive as their clever, undersized forwards Jasmine Dixon and Markel Walker were able to find space inside. But right after hitting consecutive buckets, Dixon sprained her ankle trying to make a steal. She returned a few minutes later, but fouled out with 5:18 remaining. Two minutes prior to Dixon’s departure, the Bruins got as close as 13 points, but when their star left, UCLA’s resolve left too. The Bruins went scoreless after Dixon fouled out, missing their final seven shots and committing three turnovers. Stanford was led by Ogwumike with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and she was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Appel contributed 15 points, five rebounds, and played 28 minutes, in her lengthiest appearance since the ankle injury. Kayla Pedersen added 12, and Melanie Murphy added 10 off the bench. Dixon led UCLA with 20 points, and Walker added nine points and eight rebounds. The Bruins shot 33 percent for the game, and again suffered trying to shoot from distance against Stanford. In the three games with the Cardinal this year, the Bruins made just 5 of 32 attempts, and 2 of 14 on Sunday. "I put on my dry erase board, ‘Quit jump shooting the basketball’ because we got into that mode. I thought this team’s patience wasn’t there," Caldwell lamented.