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		Stanford women sweet again in blowout of SDSU By Morris Phillips March 23, 2009

	Spectators can see it and opponents can feel it. Stanford’s women have transformed into a machine, chewing up each successive opponent into finer and finer granules. In advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the 16th time, by trouncing San Diego State 77-49, the Cardinal improved their winning streak to 18 games. Amazingly, 14 of the 18 victories in the streak have been by at least 15 points. Now Stanford looks to capitalize on their comfortable path within the brackets by taking on Ohio State Saturday in Berkeley, behind what promises to be a sizeable crowd of supporters. With UNC, Tennessee among the early casualties, Stanford has gained prominence, courtesy of their win streak and being the last team to beat Connecticut, in last year’s Final Four semis. On Monday, Stanford faced an Aztec team gambling that turning the contest into a fast and frenetic affair would succeed in forcing the Cardinal out of their comfort zone. And with Cal-transfer Jene Morris causing havoc, San Diego State hurt Stanford, forcing the Cardinal into 20 turnovers and getting Pac-10 player of the year Jayne Appel into foul trouble. But for every home-crowd pleasing steal or blocked shot, the Cardinal either converted or forced the Aztecs to foul to prevent a Stanford layup. In the end, with 50 of Stanford’s 77 points coming in the paint, their physicality was more effective than SDSU’s quickness. “We tried to rely on our speed and when it came down to it, it got really physical on the inside,” said Morris, who played for Cal her freshman year. “We haven’t really had to play that (physically) this whole season and I think we weren’t used to it. It slowed us down and we didn’t have the size to compete with them.” And to say the Aztecs gambled would be more than accurate. On one play in the final minutes, and SDSU trailing by 24, Morris took a three from the top of the key, which missed, and then raced to her baseline to double team Stanford’s Jeanette Pohlen, instead of retreating on defense. But Pohlen passed easily over Morris to Rosalyn Gold-Onwude and then to Nnemkadi Ogwumike for an uncontested layup with no Aztecs back on defense. “I think we’ve still got room for improvement,” said Stanford’s Jillian Harmon. “San Diego State is a really athletic team and forced quite a bit of turnovers, but I think we stated poised and handled their pressure in the second half and I think we’ll be able to handle it in the future.” Stanford was led by Ogwumike, who has been a revelation since being promoted to the starting lineup last month. The highly-recruited freshman picked up the slack with Appel in foul trouble, striking for 27 points and 13 rebounds, both career-highs. And Appel was effective when she was on the floor, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in just 16 minutes. Morris paced the Aztecs with 14 points, but made just 6 of 17 shots.