SALT LAKE CITY – Nnemkadi Ogwumike had 18 points and 13 rebounds to help No. 4 Stanford pull away from Utah for a 62-43 victory on Thursday night, its school-record 62nd straight win against a Pac-12 opponent.
Chiney Ogwumike added 11 points and 14 rebounds and Toni Kokenis had 13 points for the Cardinal (14-1, 5-0).
Iwalani Rodrigues scored 16 points to lead the Utes (8-7, 1-3). Taryn Wicijowski had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The matchup pitted Utah's top scoring defense in the Pac-12 — limiting opponents to just 51.4 points per game — against Stanford's top scoring offense in the league — 81.4 points per game on a league-best 46.7 percent from the field.
The advantage belonged to the Cardinal on both ends of the floor. Stanford used two big runs to break open a close game before halftime and kept the Utes in check on offense.
Stanford held Utah to just 28 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range. The Cardinal took advantage on the other end, connecting on 43 percent of their field goals.
With the game tied 10-10, Nnemkadi Ogwumike gathered in the ball off a missed shot and made a jumper to spark a 19-5 run. She bookended the run with another jumper. It gave the Cardinal a commanding 29-15 lead with 2:12 left in the half.
Stanford started strong to open the second half. Back-to-back baskets by Nnemkadi Ogwumike capped a 8-0 spurt that extended the Cardinal lead to 39-20.
Utah's Janita Badon scored on a layup to make it 41-29 with 13:48 remaining but couldn't get closer. Kokenis responded with a layup on the other end and it touched off a 13-2. Chiney Ogwumike finished off the spurt with a three-point play that gave Stanford a 54-31 lead with 8 minutes left in the game.
