The Cardinal is rolling, and recently, no team has been able to stop it. Stanford women’s basketball hasn’t lost in a month — the defense is becoming impenetrable, and the offense is scoring from the field and inside.

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Alex Oppenheimer

Jayne Appel shoots over a UCLA defender last weekend. Appel had 12 points Saturday as Stanford downed Oregon State to win its tenth straight.

Both key elements of the Cardinal attack were on display Saturday against Oregon State, as freshman forward Kayla Pedersen and senior guard Candice Wiggins both broke 20 points against the Beavers to propel No. 6 Stanford to a 69-59 victory in Corvallis.

Pedersen had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal while Wiggins led all scorers with 25 points. Sophomore center Jayne Appel added 12 points and 11 boards for Stanford, who overcame a fierce Oregon State attack for its 10th straight victory.

The Cardinal lead was never in serious doubt, but the Beavers — who had lost five straight coming into the game — were able to keep the margin within the low teens, cutting the lead to 10 points late in the second half.

But Wiggins, the Pac-10 Player of the Week for the past two weeks, hit timely shots to keep the Cardinal ahead. She scored four points late in the first half to give Stanford a comfortable 35-21 lead at halftime, and was able to respond whenever the Beavers narrowed the deficit.

Still, not everything was in sync for the Cardinal: Stanford shot an abnormally low 37.1 percent from the floor and, in a rare occurrence, was actually out-shot by their opponent — Oregon State shot over 40 percent from the field. Pedersen attributed the close game to the Cardinal’s own mistakes and missed opportunities.

“We just need to take better care of the ball,” she told the Associated Press. “There were way too many turnovers and easy lay-ups”

Since the Cardinal could never put the Beavers away, coach Tara VanDerveer was forced to play her starters for most of the game. With the exception of sophomore guard J.J. Hones, all played significant minutes — Wiggins played all 40.

Stanford was without starting junior forward Jillian Harmon, who has a right foot injury and will be out at least a month. Harmon, an Oregon native, has been a key part of the Stanford attack and, as of late, had been excelling in transition.

Instead of replacing Harmon with another forward, VanDerveer went with three guards, as she added sophomore guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, a starter earlier in the season, to the lineup. Gold-Onwude had nine points and three assists for the Cardinal.

The Beavers were led by guard Ashley Allen, who had a team-high 17 points and six rebounds. But Allen also had five turnovers, and eventually fouled out. Guard Cedes Fox-Griffin contributed 13 points and a game-high eight assists. Oregon State was without guard Brittney Davis, a leading scorer who has missed time with a knee injury.

Since back-to-back losses in early January that dropped the team from the top of the Pacific-10 Conference, Stanford has played like a team possessed in an effort to make it back to the top of the standings. The team has recently avenged earlier losses to UCLA and Southern California, and blew out Oregon on Thursday. Stanford is currently one game behind No. 9 California in the Pac-10 race.

The Cardinal returns to the Farm this week to face the Arizona schools. It will be the last home-stand of the regular season for Stanford and its last games before the all-important rematch next week against Cal in Berkeley.