With any luck, the No. 7 Stanford women’s basketball team spent the weekend securing its eighth consecutive Pacific-10 regular season title with a 60-58 victory over No. 8 California. Assuming both squads finish the season with wins against Washington and Washington State, the Cardinal (25-3, 14-2 Pac-10) will reign atop the conference again because of its season sweep of the Bears (23-4, 14-2), despite the teams’ matching records.

In Saturday’s match-up, back-to-back-to-back three-pointers by each of Stanford’s starting guards made it appear as if the Cardinal would repeat its 20-point domination of Cal back on Jan. 26. But, after the 15:09 mark, when Stanford had a 13-8 lead with another three by senior guard Candice Wiggins, offensive production from the red and white jerseys slowed, allowing the Bears to take advantage with an 11-0 run.

Stanford continued to rely on its perimeter game throughout the first period, knocking down seven of 16 long range attempts, but the dominance in the paint of California junior forwards Devanei Hampton (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Ashley Walker (17 points, 14 rebounds) gave the Bears a slight lead for much of the half. The teams entered the intermission tied at 32.

Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer knew that Stanford could not afford to be out-manned down low, and let sophomore Jayne Appel know it at the half.

“In the first half she got some fouls, she wasn’t rebounding as well as we wanted,” VanDerveer said. “She got an earful at halftime. She took it in, and I think that was the whole difference for the second half . . . .[In the second half,] Jayne came out of hibernation and went to work. She really took over the game for us.”

The early struggles weren’t limited to Appel. After Wiggins earned seven points in the opening five minutes of play, the conference-leading scorer went cold for most of the remainder of the game, missing her next 14 consecutive shots from the field and racking up four fouls. She finished the game with 13 points, 5 steals and 3 assists.

“When my shot wasn’t really going, I had to look for other ways to contribute to the team,” Wiggins explained. “I really was working on defense, helping under the posts, and trying to get steals, and things like that. Really, I have so much confidence in my teammates. I think they showed that even when I’m struggling, [they’re] there to pick me up.”

Wiggins made a huge play with 2:48 remaining, when she ended her cold streak on a fast break layup off a steal.

VanDerveer called the play the “biggest” of the day, praising Wiggins for staying composed despite offensive difficulties.

“Candice really struggled today but I think it’s a real credit to the fact that she’s all about our team,” VanDerveer said. “She doesn’t care if she gets one point, 21 or 41; it’s all about our team winning and doing whatever it takes.”

Like Wiggins, Appel credited her second half turn-around to the rest of the Cardinal lineup.

“Like Candice said, when you’re down, the team’s there to pick you up,” Appel said. “But, they’re also there to let you know ‘We really need you,’ and they needed me to play [well] in the second half. They needed me to be scoring inside. It was great and I can’t ask for more when the guards come out and hit three threes in a row, but you have to have [balance] inside and outside.”

Sophomore guard JJ Hones and freshman forward Kayla Pedersen were the difference-makers during the lulls in Wiggins’s and Appel’s games, scoring 16 and 10 points, respectively. Pedersen also grabbed 10 boards. On the defensive end, sophomore Rosalyn Gold-Onwude held Bears’ standout Alexis Gray-Lawson to a quiet seven points and two assists.

With 10,525 fans in Haas Pavilion, the largest crowd to ever gather for a Pac-10 conference game, the Bears hoped to win their first conference title while ending Stanford’s streak at the top. VanDerveer acknowledged that though her team’s play was far from perfect, she was proud of the Cardinal in that it battled for the win, especially in front of the hostile Cal crowd.

“To me it was like a heavyweight fight: Sometimes it wasn’t really pretty, but I think it was very competitively played,” VanDerveer said. “It was gritty . . . .[and] people dug in and made great stops down at the end. We’re excited to win . . . .[and] I’m really proud of how our team came in and played really hard.”