SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Aimee Grzyb (from left) celebrates with teammates Dee-Dee Wheeler and Cocoa Stanford after Arizona's 15-point win over No. 9 Stanford last night in McKale Center. While Stanford already clinched the Pac-10 regular season title, the win could help UA reach a second place finish.

No. 24 Wildcats send message with blow out win over No. 9 Cardinal

If there was any doubt that the Arizona basketball team deserves to play in the NCAA tournament next month, it was erased last night.

The No. 24 Wildcats used a 23-5 run in the first half to beat No. 9 Stanford 79-64 at McKale Center.

"We had them back on their heels from the beginning," head coach Joan Bonvicini said.

In front of 2,770 people, Arizona simply out-played the Pacific-10 Conference champions.

Stanford wrapped up the regular season conference title last weekend with its win over UCLA, however, the Wildcats are now playing for a possible second place.

"We have been waiting for this game for a long time," said freshman center Shawntinice Polk. "We practiced hard all week and it feels good (to win)."

With just over five minutes left in the contest, the Cardinal were able to cut the UA lead to six points on Kelley Suminski's 3-point basket, but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the night. On the very next possession, sophomore guard Dee-Dee Wheeler answered with a 3-pointer of her own to push the lead back to nine and the Wildcats went on a 22-13 run to close out the game.

Arizona was paced by Wheeler's game-high 26 points. The sophomore guard also led the Wildcats' defensive effort.

"Our defense was very good," said Bonvicini. "We have really increased our intensity and have been a really good defensive team."

The UA defense used a full court trap similar to the one that was successful against ASU last weekend, holding last year's Pac-10 Player of the Year, Nicole Powell, to just 5-of-17 shooting from the field. Powell was just 1-of-6 from behind the 3-point arc.

As a team, the Cardinal shot a season low 36.5 percent from the field.

"Defense was the main emphasis all week," said senior forward Krista Warren, who finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds. "We knew that we could score, so we focus on our defense."

One of the main scoring contributions came from a familiar spot.

Polk poured in her 19th double-double of the season, adding 23 points and 11 rebounds. But the real difference came in Polk's play in the game's early minutes. Polk came out and took the Wildcat's first six shots and scored the first seven points to get the team going.

Stanford started out the game with just one person guarding Polk, but moved to a 2-3 defense to put at least two bodies on her at all times later in the contest.

The Wildcats play their final regular season game on Saturday at McKale Center against California at 1p.m. That game will be televised on Fox Sports Arizona.

Game Notes

This was the first time in five tries that the Wildcats defeated the Cardinal · This also marked the third time this year in which the Wildcats have lost to a team on the road, then come back to Tucson and beat them on their home floor · With the win, Arizona drove its winning streak at home to 12 games, keeping the Wildcats undefeated at home in conference play · Polk tied the school record for rebounds in a season when she grabbed her 284th late in the second half.