Sports Shorts

As they began the second half of the Pac-10 season in January, the women’s basketball team (16-5, 11-2 Pac-10) had won 10 of its last 11 games, including an 82-51 blowout against Arizona. With her first basket of the evening on January 29 against USC, sophomore All-American Candice Wiggins became the 26th Cardinal player to score 1,000 career points. She leads the team with 21.1 points per game. At press time, head coach Tara VanDerveer was two wins shy of her 500th win at Stanford.  .  .  . Head football coach Walt Harris says he’s pleased with the 19 high schoolers who have signed letters of intent to play for the Cardinal. “We’re searching for the guys who aren’t satisfied with ‘get close,’ ” Harris says. “We’re looking for guys that have some size, mobility and attitude.” The 12 offensive players and seven defensive players include running back Toby Gerhart, who also will play varsity baseball, and quarterback Alex Loukas, a state tennis doubles champion from Illinois.  .  .  . The No. 3 women’s swimming team opened the Pac-10 season with wins over Arizona and Arizona State, then dropped a meet to UCLA before defeating USC on January 28. The team, which has gone 13-1 under first-year head coach Lea Loveless Maurer, ’94, MA ’95, is aiming to make a splash at the mid-March NCAAs.  .  .  . Top-ranked women’s tennis opened dual-match play with wins over Hawaii and Fresno State in late January. Doubles partners Alice Barnes, ’06, and Anne Yelsey, ’07, both of whom reached the NCAA finals last year with other teammates, are ranked second nationally.