A three-pointer by senior guard Cissy Pierce gave No. 6 Stanford its first lead against UC-Davis just two and a half minutes into Sunday’s game, and the Cardinal never looked back. Stanford (7-1) snatched a 62-41 victory over the Aggies (5-1), winning its fourth straight game since a 66-54 loss to No. 2 Connecticut on Nov. 22.

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Senior Candice Wiggins, a Preseason All-American, scored a team-high 19 points in the Cardinal’s win over UC-Davis and leads the squad with 14.9 points in her final season. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8300
Alex Oppenheimer

Senior Candice Wiggins, a Preseason All-American, scored a team-high 19 points in the Cardinal’s win over UC-Davis and leads the squad with 14.9 points in her final season.

Despite committing eight turnovers in less than nine minutes, the Cardinal managed to build a 14-7 lead. Stanford attributed part of this rocky start to Davis’ zone defense, the first of its kind that the Cardinal have faced this season.

Junior Jillian Harmon complimented the Aggies’ ability to disrupt the usually seamless backcourt.

“This was our first look at a zone,” Harmon said. “They did a good job trapping the guards.”

Coach Tara VanDerveer and senior guard Candice Wiggins, though, echoed a certainty that improvements will come from this initial exposure.

“We’re going to improve because of them,” said VanDerveer. “Their zone was effective and we made too many turnovers.”

“The good thing about zones is that they give you open shots,” Wiggins said. “Cissy [Pierce] hit the first three, and I hit a three after that. I think once we got our outside game going, it gave us confidence... Obviously, we had a lot of turnovers, but once we got everything under control and got used to their defense, we were able to make a lot of passes and score off them.”

Wiggins’ comment was intended to draw attention to the four three-pointers hit by starting guards — Wiggins, Pierce, and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude — before seven minutes had ticked off the clock, as well as to the 20 points contributed by her fellow guards.

But, one could also use it to reference the offense produced by the senior herself: Wiggins made five three-pointers on the day, outmatching Davis’ entire squad, which shot 3-14 from behind the arc. Wiggins’ long-range shooting set her well on the way to a game-leading 19 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

The opening scoring spurt from outside soon gave way to a slightly steadier pace in which Stanford utilized its size in forwards Harmon, sophomore Jayne Appel, and freshman Kayla Pedersen to score in the post.

“[Because] we’re a lot bigger it was just a matter of finding [the forwards] at the right spot, like Jayne on the weak side,” Wiggins said. “The post hit good shots, and I know Jill especially scored a lot on offensive rebounding.”

“When Jayne got the ball on the block she was extremely effective,” VanDerveer added.

Appel scored 9 of her 17 points in the first half, to complement her game-high eight rebounds and four assists. Harmon’s five offensive boards helped her put up another six points for the Card.

After going into the break with a 32-15 lead, Stanford became more comfortable with the zone opposition; as a result, the second half saw only increased separation between the teams.

UC-Davis was led by redshirt freshman Paige Mintun (14 points, 6 rebounds) and junior Haylee Donaghe (9 points, 3 rebounds), but neither’s efforts could rally the Aggies back from the deficit. A 33-point gap appeared on the scoreboard twice before the Cardinal finally cleared the bench with 5:36 to go. Davis then scored the game’s last 12 points.

Stanford takes on Baylor next at home on Dec. 16, before starting a busy winter break, including a homestand that boasts a match-up against No. 1 Tennessee at the end of the non-conference schedule, marking the start of the Pacific-10 Conference season.