Stanford is proving it's a lot more than just Nnemkadi Ogwumike.
Sarah Boothe matched her career high of 16 points, Kayla Pedersen had 13 and No. 2 Stanford clinched a share of its 11th straight Pac-10 title with a 73-37 win over Oregon State on Thursday night.
With leading scorer Ogwumike out again with a sprained right ankle, the Cardinal started slow but finished strong on the way to their 59th straight victory at Maples Pavilion, tying the school record for consecutive home wins.
''Obviously you don't like it but it speaks about the depth of our team and just the talent that we have on our bench,'' coach Tara VanDerveer said. ''I call it the champagne effect, where you open the cork and it'll start bubbling. We depend a lot on Jeanette (Pohlen), Kayla and Nekka but it is great to see other people stepping up.''
Ogwumike's absence didn't prevent Stanford (25-2, 16-0) from reaching a few milestones.
The win, Stanford's 19th straight since losing to then-No. 6 Tennessee on Dec. 19, guarantees the Cardinal the top seed in the Pac-10 tournament. No. 11 UCLA is three games behind Stanford in the win column with three games left but the Bruins were swept by the Cardinal this season.
Stanford can set the consecutive home wins record and secure an outright conference title by beating Oregon on Saturday.
''I thought we started out a little bit slow but then we really got it going in the second half,'' VanDerveer said. ''I told our team we're an orchestra and it's all about us being successful but I thought tonight we had a nice solo from Sarah Boothe.''
Boothe, a reserve, went 7 for 12 from the field while equaling her career best set earlier this season. Boothe, Pohlen and Toni Kokenis had eight points apiece in the second half when Stanford outscored Oregon State 44-23.
Ogwumike, averaging 16.3 points, missed her second straight game after injuring her ankle in the first half of last Friday's win over Southern California. She watched the game from Stanford's bench, and could miss the matchup with Oregon as well.
''With Nekka out it changes the dynamic a little bit on the floor,'' said Pohlen, who added six assists and five rebounds. ''Maybe it just makes us a little more versatile having those shooters on the wing, but we miss Nekka. We just hope she's getting healthy so we can go hard in the tournament.''
Sage Indendi scored 12 points for Oregon State (9-17, 2-13), which was coming off a dramatic come-from-behind win over Oregon last week.
The Beavers put together an 11-0 run early in the first half, but Stanford responded with a 17-0 surge and put the game away with a 33-4 blitz in the second half.
''Coming off a win like we just had, where we were on top of the world, to come in and get drilled like we did tonight sucks,'' Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said. ''There's nothing good about this other than we had some decent efforts out there.''
The Cardinal are once again streaking toward the conference tournament and picking up steam after moving up one spot in The Associated Press rankings this week.
Oregon State, on the other hand, continues to sink further into the Pac-10 cellar.
The Beavers shot just 23.2 percent (13 of 56) from the floor and trailed by as much as 40 while losing their 22nd straight to Stanford. They have never won in 25 trips to Maples Pavilion.
