After averaging 18.0 minutes per game this season, freshman center Jayne Appel got a starter’s playing time on Thursday night and showed what she could do with it.

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Alvin Chow

Freshman Jayne Appel proved that she deserved her 33 minutes against the Beavers, as she notched 28 points and 17 rebounds. The Cardinal look to continue their winning ways Saturday at Oregon.

Appel turned in a monstrous performance in Corvallis, Ore. as the No. 9 Stanford women’s basketball team defeated Oregon State, 70-55. She scored 28 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in 33 minutes off the bench to set career-highs in all three of those categories. Her fellow center, senior Brooke Smith, chipped in with 22 points, six rebounds and seven assists as the Cardinal completely outmatched the Beavers in the post.

The last time Appel played 30 minutes in a game she set her previous career-high for points (23) against then-No. 4 Tennessee on Nov. 24.

Stanford (22-4, 14-1 Pacific-10 Conference) desperately needed a strong performance from its frontcourt following another injury to its guard corps last Saturday. A week after losing freshman point guard JJ Hones to a season-ending right ACL tear, junior guard Candice Wiggins re-aggravated a previous ankle sprain while coming down after a shot against Washington.

Freshman point guard Melanie Murphy got the first start of her college career due to the injuries, and put in another solid performance in Hones’ stead. Murphy had four points, five assists and five steals while running the offense for all but four minutes of the game.

In Stanford’s previous 10 games, its opponents came out of the gate cold, but both the Cardinal and Oregon State (8-16, 3-12 Pac-10) were hitting shots from the opening whistle. The Beavers led 13-10 behind three three-pointers at the first extended stoppage in play, 6:17 into the game.

However, OSU outstripped Stanford over the next six minutes, building up a nine-point lead before the Cardinal experienced its third injury scare in three weeks. A scrum under the basket left sophomore forward Jillian Harmon clutching her right knee in agony. She had to be helped off the court by a trainer, although she would check back in later.

Stanford’s players were visibly upset and looked to be in danger of succumbing to the same lack of focus that hurt them after Hones’ injury against California on Feb. 4. Instead, they shut down Oregon State’s offensive game with a zone defense, which helped hold OSU and Pac-10 leading scorer Casey Nash (20.3 points per game) to just 11 points on the night.

The Cardinal chipped away at the Beavers’ lead for the rest of the half. The inside trio of Appel, Smith and senior center Kristen Newlin scored the last six points of the period to cut OSU’s advantage to 34-32, which was erased immediately on the other side of halftime by two free throws from Smith on a technical foul by Beavers coach LaVonda Wagner.

The Cardinal only trailed once — by one point at 43-42 — for the rest of the game. Boosted by Wiggins’ surprise cameo appearance, in which she hit Stanford’s only three-pointer of the game, they created a lead and stretched it to double-digits after Wiggins checked out. Appel continued her domination of the boards, securing her second career double-double midway through the half. She scored 14 points in each period.

The contest marked the first game since last season’s Sweet Sixteen match-up with Oklahoma in which two Stanford players recorded 20 points or more.

The Cardinal wraps up its road trip at 11 a.m. in Eugene, Ore. on Saturday when the team takes on the Oregon Ducks (15-10, 7-8 Pac-10).