Last year, the Cal women came to Maples and snapped Stanford’s 17-game winning streak with a 72-57 upset. This time around, the No. 7 Stanford women’s basketball team returned the favor. The No. 8 Bears (17-3, 8-1 Pac-10) were sent home with a blemish on their previously pristine conference record, as the Cardinal (17-3, 7-2 Pac-10) scored a big 72-52 victory Saturday afternoon.

Senior guard Candice Wiggins led Stanford with a game-high 28 points (including 14-for-14 from the free thrown line), while sophomore guard J.J. Hones added 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from three point range. Freshman forward Kayla Pederson also scored in double figures, chipping in 11 points, while sophomore center Jayne Appel added nine points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.

The much-hyped “Battle of the Bay” was hardly even a battle, as Cal never came within seven points in the second half. Despite a sluggish offensive start from both teams, Stanford never relinquished the lead after the initial two minutes.

By halftime, the Cardinal lead had grown to 16, and Stanford’s success was bolstered by a 23-14 rebounding advantage. Coach Tara VanDerveer applauded the effort of her posts in silencing Cal forwards Devanei Hampton and Ashley Walker, limiting both to three points.

“I’m really proud of how Kayla, Jayne, and Morgan [Clyburn] just battled in there,” VanDerveer said. “Basically [they said,] ‘We’re not backing down from you. We’re here, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to help [inside], but we’re going to make you find the open player and make that player make the shot.’”

Appel added that the team was well-prepared after the week of practice.

“All week we knew the double [team] was coming [in the post],” she said. “We practiced a lot passing out and being aware of where their defense was. We also worked on doubling their posts. So, it was just the battle of the bigs between us and them.”

Practice made perfect, as Appel complemented her scoring and rebounding output with a game-high seven assists.

VanDerveer said Appel’s gaudy stats were a result of her ongoing development, which is coming to fruition.

“Jayne has great vision and a great sense of the game,” VanDerveer said. “Since the L.A. trips, she really understands where to be on the floor and what kind of things to do. She’s a very intelligent player, she made great decisions, she can pass and she’s very unselfish.”

With her 28 points, Wiggins is now just 11 points shy of tying Stanford’s career scoring record of 2,215 points.

The senior guard was not alone in the backcourt, however, as Hones celebrated the one year anniversary of her torn ACL against Cal with a stellar performance on both ends of the floor.

“Obviously, to me this was a really big game for J.J., [and] I think this has come full circle,” VanDerveer said. “It’s her time to be out there. She has been playing very, very well off the bench for us, and she takes care of the ball [...] I think her contributions were huge, and I’m really glad they came in this game.”

One of Hones’ four threes came early in the second half and sparked a 10-4 Cardinal run that put the game out of reach. More important than any individual’s scoring, though, was Stanford’s tough defense. While Cal forwards Ashley Walker and Rama N’diaye snuck into double digits, as did guard Alexis Gray-Lawson, the team shot only 30.8 percent from the field and found no way around Stanford’s staunch defense inside.

The combination of shared scoring, consistent defense and sheer enthusiasm led VanDerveer to call this her team’s “most complete” game thus far.

“I think we can take great things from this game,” she said. “We learned that our team is pretty battle-tested and excited about playing. We played very hard and showed really good poise. Cal has an excellent team, and we’re proud of beating them today.”