No. 1 Stanford wins Pac-10 title

Stanford was forced to get defensive in the Pac-10 tournament title game. Fortunately, that might be what the Cardinal do best.

Tournament MVP Candice Wiggins had 16 points and seven rebounds, and No. 1 Stanford won its 20th straight game and third straight conference championship, beating Arizona State 56-42 Monday night.

Brooke Smith scored 10 points and Susan King Borchardt added nine for the Cardinal (29-2).

But the Pac-10’s top two defensive teams played an ugly game worthy of its billing. Stanford was held to its lowest point total of the season by the excited Sun Devils – but Arizona State (22-9) made 18 turnovers and just 31 percent of its shots in its lowest-scoring game of the year.

After grinding out its third defense-dominated victory over Arizona State this season, coach Tara VanDerveer’s squad is headed for the NCAA tournament on its longest winning streak since 2001-02.

Kristen Kovesdy had 10 points and seven rebounds for Arizona State, which had its five-game winning streak snapped in a frustrating night filled with missed layups and wasted offensive rebounds. The Sun Devils still will get an NCAA bid, but missed the chance for their second title-game upset of Stanford in four seasons.

Stanford new women’s No. 1

Stanford finally made it back to the top. The Cardinal are No. 1 again in women’s basketball.

Stanford took over at No. 1 in the Associated Press poll – the first time the Cardinal have led the rankings since December 1996.

They replaced LSU after the Lady Tigers lost to Tennessee 67-65 in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference tournament on Sunday. LSU had led the poll for the last five weeks and had a six-week run at No. 1 earlier in the season.

LSU (29-2) dropped to No. 2 and Tennessee (26-4) climbed two spots to third.

North Carolina and Duke were Nos. 4 and 5. Baylor, Michigan State, Ohio State, Rutgers and Notre Dame round out the top 10.

Gonzaga earned its first national ranking two weeks ago but couldn’t hang on after its 23-game winning streak was broken with a loss to Santa Clara in the finals of the West Coast Conference tournament.

Gunter on road to recovery

Former LSU women’s basketball coach Sue Gunter was removed from a ventilator and is talking as she recovers from pneumonia.

Gunter, who has severe emphysema, was sedated and attached to a ventilator when she was admitted to the hospital March 1. Chatman said Gunter will be moved from the intensive care unit to a room.

On the court

Fourth-ranked North Carolina (27-3) put a harsh end to Duke’s run at Atlantic Coast Conference history, getting 26 points from Ivory Latta in an 88-67 victory over the Blue Devils (28-4) in the tournament championship game in Greensboro, N.C.

(7) Michigan St. 55, (12) Minnesota 49: Michigan State stopped Minnesota’s strong inside tandem, and Liz Shimek scored 15 points in a win over the Golden Gophers (24-7) in Indianapolis that gave the Spartans (28-3) their first Big Ten tournament title. … (9) Rutgers 64, Villanova 49: Matee Ajavon had 16 points and five steals to help the Scarlet Knights (25-5) rally from 11 points down and beat the Wildcats (19-11) in the Big East tournament semifinals in Hartford, Conn. … (13) Connecticut 67, (10) Notre Dame 54: Barbara Turner had 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists to lead the Huskies (22-7) to a win over the Fighting Irish (26-5) in a Big East tournament quarterfinal in Hartford, Conn. … (15) Temple 70, George Washington 62: Candice Dupree scored 21 points as the Owls (27-3) beat the Colonials (22-8) in Washington to win the Atlantic-10 title and an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.