Sophomore guard Candice Wiggins and the Stanford women’s basketball squad trailed for most of their Saturday contest at Oregon. But the No. 16 Cardinal were able to keep the gap small, and, on the strength of Wiggins’ career-high 37 points, surged ahead in the final five minutes for a 76-64 victory.

The Cardinal (10-4, 5-1 Pacific-10 Conference) jumped to a 15-5 advantage, but Oregon (10-4, 1-3) closed the first half strong to take a 37-30 halftime lead. However, the seven-point edge would be Oregon’s largest.

Stanford mounted a comeback in the second half, and with four minutes to go, a key Wiggins three-pointer extended Stanford’s lead to 64-60. Senior guard Krista Rappahahn added another three, and Oregon would not threaten again.

“Three-pointers can really kill the other team’s momentum, especially when they’re made back-to-back,” Rappahahn said.

“They [Oregon] panicked,” Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “They took some quick shots under the press, and we were able to capitalize. I think that was the thing that turned it around.”

Oregon began to foul in the last two minutes but Stanford made six of eight free throws to close out the game.

Wiggins’ record day against the Ducks came on the heels of another 15 point game in Thursday’s 80-60 win over Oregon State. For those two performances, Wiggins was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week.

“I think she’s really been a great leader all season,” VanDerveer said. “She leads by example. She plays really hard. She’s extremely competitive. Last night she just happened to score a lot of baskets, but I think she’s done a great job as a leader all year, even when she doesn’t score that much.”

Junior forward Brooke Smith added 15, combining with Wiggins to account for more than two-thirds of Stanford’s total. This caused the team to look for someone to step up as a third high-scorer.

“I think Krista Rappahahn’s been doing that for us,” VanDerveer said. “She’s been very steady. She hit a big basket at the end of the game — a big three. I think that she’s really been doing well.”

Rappahahn finished with 10 points on the night.

“I’m trying my best to fill the role my team needs me to play,” she said. “Right now I’m focusing on knocking down the three and playing solid defense.”

VanDerveer expects to see more not only from Rappahahn but from many of the players.

“I really think that in another month we’ll be getting the kind of contributions we want from some real key people,” she said. “Roz [Rosalyn Gold-Onwude], Jillian [Harmon], Ezzie [Eziamaka Okafor], Cissy [Pierce] and Clare [Bodensteiner]. Those are the ones we’re really counting on.”

Pierce, a sophomore, and junior Kristen Newlin were injured against Oregon — a situation similar to last year’s game against Oregon when the Cardinal lacked then-fifth-year senior Susan King Borchardt. But while the Cardinal lost 62-58 at Oregon that year, this year’s win marks the first in three seasons at McArthur Court.

While Stanford overcame injury and a road venue to break Oregon’s run, the Cardinal have historically held court against the Ducks at home.

“A lot of times we’re playing them very early in the season, and then we’ve come back and beat them pretty badly when we’ve played them the second time,” VanDerveer said.

The Cardinal were also coming off strong on-the-road performances against Oregon State, Boston College and Texas Tech. Stanford is facing tougher Pac-10 competition this year — especially considering the team’s youth.

“Basically, every single team has improved, and we did lose a lot [to graduation],” VanDerveer said. “But I think that by the end of it we’ll be right there. We’re really pleased with how we did this weekend.”

Rappahahn agrees that the conference season will be difficult.

“There a lot of super-talented teams in the Pac-10,” she said. “We need to be ready every game to battle by being aggressive and using our team’s depth.”

Stanford leads the conference at 5-1, with its only loss to Washington. The Cardinal next host Cal on Jan. 14.