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Nina Gonzaludo

Junior forward Brooke Smith scored 19 points to help Stanford beat Arizona State.

Despite being down by a season-high 13 points with 6:46 left in the first half, No. 14 Stanford clawed back against No. 15 Arizona State on the play of Candice Wiggins. Wiggins’ 33 points, and a crucial three-pointer by senior guard Krista Rappahahn in the final three minutes ensured Saturday’s Cardinal victory over the Sun Devils, 84-78.

“The thing about the game of basketball is it is always about runs and spurts,” said Wiggins, a sophomore guard. “Getting the tie really did change things, because it got the crowd back into it but I think Rapp’s three down the stretch was the biggest play of the game.”

For most of the first half, Arizona State (15-4, 5-4 Pacific 10 Conference) out-battled Stanford (13-4, 8-1) by being more aggressive, especially on the glass. Senior forwards Kristin Kovesdy and Amy Denson led the Sun Devils with four rebounds apiece in the first half. Arizona State went into the break with 21 boards while the Cardinal could only get 12 of their own.

“You can’t print some of the things I was thinking,” said head coach Tara VanDerveer about her defense’s first half. “I’m not happy about the rebounding, and I think our team will be angry about it all week. But Candice and Brooke [Smith] put the team on their back. The second half was the most intense 20 minutes of the season so far. This was a tournament game of tough, smash-mouth basketball. [We won because] we became the aggressor.”

Stanford turned to its recipe for success in the second half — a steady dose of junior center Smith who led the team with 15 field goal attempts, Wiggins’ scoring and Rappahahn from outside. The Cardinal also compensated for their rebounding by forcing 14 turnovers in the second half.

“You’ve got to take it to them; you can’t be a reactor,” freshman point guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude said. “I needed to do my part and put more pressure on the ball.”

The Cardinal were able to take advantage of the Sun Devils physicality throughout the contest as they went 26-31 from the charity stripe, while Arizona State only took 10 free throws. One particularly aggressive foul was called on junior forward Emily Westerberg. The preseason all-Pac-10 selection took Wiggins down to the hardwood on a lay-up attempt with under a minute to go and was given a technical foul.

“When people climb all over you, you have to take advantage of it,” Wiggins said. “I like it when teams are physical.”

After shooting seven of 11 to start the game, the Cardinal offense sputtered during a nine-minute span, and Arizona State took advantage with a 21-5 run.

“When we were the more aggressive team we were winning,” Sun Devils’ head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “We knew it would come down to Smith and Wiggins. They hit big shots down the stretch and we didn’t execute. The biggest turning point in the game was when we turned the ball over.”

Arizona State was able to keep its lead at around five or six points for the majority of the night. The game appeared to be turning when a Wiggins three-pointer brought Stanford within three with 1:19 remaining in the first half. However, the Sun Devils fired right back with a three-pointer of their own by freshman guard Danielle Orsillo. Smith ran out to cover the shot and hit Orsillo as she fell. The freshman missed her first attempt at converting the four-point play but made her second after a lane violation.

The Cardinal finally broke through with 6:36 left in the game, as Smith made back-to-back lay-ups and then Wiggins stole the ball at half court and easily laid it in for a 64-60 lead.

The final blow came with 2:47 as Rappahahn, who had missed her last four attempts from behind the arc received a kick-out pass from Gold-Onwude and drained a three-pointer from the left side.

“Rapp has hit big shots for us all year and she did again today,” Smith said. “I have such confidence in her shooting that every time she shoots I think it’s going in.”

With the victory, the Cardinal remain on top of the Pac-10, while Arizona State falls three games back of the leaders.

“We go 9-0 from here,” Thorne said. “We’ve seen every team and we know what we have to do. 9-0 is our goal, and whether we do it or not remains to be seen.”

Next weekend the Cardinal head to Los Angeles to face UCLA (10-8, 5-4) and USC (13-5, 7-3) on Friday, Jan. 27 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 29 at noon, respectively.