Stanford women rout Utah NO. 6 STANFORD 65, UTAH 44

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Utah hasn't beaten Stanford in 16 women's basketball games, and loss No. 16 seemed predestined almost from the opening tip-off.

The No. 6 Cardinal scored the first seven points and, although they didn't shoot well (40.3 percent), they outclassed the Utes 65-44 on Friday night at Maples Pavilion.

An ice storm delayed the Utes' arrival in the Bay Area until 2 p.m. Friday. Ten minutes into the game, their chances went from slim to hopeless when Taryn Wicijowski, their second-leading scorer and rebounder, went down with a right knee injury. She tore the ACL in the same knee as a sophomore, forcing her to miss the rest of the season.

It wasn't immediately known how serious her latest injury is.

It was already 16-5 Stanford when she left, and the lead ballooned to 35-19 by the end of the half.

Chiney Ogwumike piled up 23 points and 13 rebounds as Stanford padded its record to 17-2 (6-1 Pac-12). When she went up for a rebound surrounded by three Utes, they seemed like the ones who were outnumbered.

As usual, Chiney Ogwumike led the Cardinal, this time with 23 points, 13 rebounds. As usual, Chiney Ogwumike led the Cardinal, this time with 23 points, 13 rebounds. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Stanford women rout Utah 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Joslyn Tinkle had a hot start, scoring nine of the Cardinal's first 12 points on her way to a 16-point, eight-rebound performance. She hit Stanford's only three-pointer of the first half out of six tries by the Cardinal. She even helped Wicijowski off the floor when the Utes were slow coming to her aid.

However, no other Stanford player scored more than six points.

"I'm really glad that Chiney and Jos came to the game tonight; otherwise, it would have been really tough," coach Tara VanDerveer said. "We're working really hard to get more people involved offensively, and we really struggled from the perimeter."

The Cardinal didn't commit a turnover in the first half, mainly because the Utes put little pressure on the ballhandler.

Utah (10-8, 1-6) certainly looked more like the team that recently lost six in a row than the team that handed Michigan, now ranked No. 23, one of its two losses. That was a 59-40 verdict early in the season.

The Utes made just two of their first 15 shots. After Wicijowski exited, their offense consisted of Michelle Plouffe and a lot of unanswered prayers. Plouffe, one of three Canadian starters for Utah, scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds. Paige Crozon added 10 points.

Stanford shot a modest 25-for-62, but Utah was a frosty 15-for-60 (25 percent).