Photos

By Rick Eymer
Palo Alto Online Sports

If senior center Jayne Appel was bothered by an infection in her left foot, she sure didn't show it.

By the time the smoke cleared on second-ranked Stanford's 74-53 victory over UCLA on Thursday night, Appel became Stanford's second all-time leading rebounder, three behind Nicole Powell, and passed 1,900 career points.

Appel scored a season-high 23 points to go with 13 rebounds as Stanford opened a three-game lead on the Bruins.

Appel also received the first ejection of her life after an unfortunate situation near UCLA's basket with just under eight minutes to play.

"I had no intention of being intentional," Appel said. "I was just playing basketball."

The Pac-10 reviewed the game tape and official's game report and ruled that no further action will be taken.

It means Appel will be available for Sunday's 1 p.m. game against USC, which lost to Cal and also fell three games off the pace.

Appel was called for a flagrant foul when she was trying to protect the ball from a double team and elbowed Jasmine Dixon, who was reaching over trying to strip the ball loose.

"I know her and I know she didn't mean anything by it," Dixon said. "I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell agreed, saying "I recruited her while I was still at Tennessee and she's not the type of kid who would intentionally try to hurt anyone."

The officials huddled, and went to the replay to determine there was "excessive force," according to official Scott Yarbrough, whose crew whistled the Bruins for 26 fouls and called 10 on Stanford.

The officials, who seemed to project the physicality onto Appel, made more of the situation than anyone else on the court. Both teams shrugged it off and just kept playing.

"Unfortunately it was a little more physical than I liked," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Appel, who hasn't needed to score as often as last year, accomplished both of those milestones before halftime. Then she went to work, recording her eighth double-double of the season and her second in the last three games after failing to record one in her seven previous contests.

The All-American may not have the same offensive numbers she produced last year but she's right on pace to match her rebounding, assists and blocked shots from a year ago.

"That was the old Jayne," VanDerveer said. "I kept saying 'go to Jayne' and she delivered. It was so much fun seeing the ball going in."

Appel left the court with Stanford holding an 18-point advantage.

"She had her way with us," Caldwell said.

Roz Gold-Onwude, who has suddenly become an offensive weapon, added 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. She's reached double figures in scoring in six of her last eight games after hitting double digits once in her first 13 games.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike added 15 points and Jeanette Pohlen had 10 as Stanford won its 41st consecutive home game, the third longest such streak in school history, and one shy of matching the second-longest streak.

Stanford won its 11th straight overall and its seventh straight over the Bruins, who entered the game on a four-game winning streak and winners of nine of their previous 11 games.

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