Alexander the Great was a celebrated war hero who conquered countries before he ever said goodbye to his teen years. So who’s going to tell Candice Wiggins she can’t be a freshman leader for the No. 8 Cardinal and conquer the basketball court?

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Senior guard Kelley Suminski and sophomore forward Kristen Newlin extended Stanford's second-half lead to 12 points. #gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/4306
Matt Sayles

Senior guard Kelley Suminski and sophomore forward Kristen Newlin extended Stanford's second-half lead to 12 points.

Wiggins helped the Stanford women’s basketball team (11-2, 3-1 Pac-10) pull away from the Washington Huskies (6-8, 2-2). The Cardinal boasted a well-balanced offense that methodically stayed in front of the Huskies, eventually winning 74-61.

Both teams started the game slowly, struggling on the offensive ends of the floor. Stanford made only one of its first nine field goal attempts and was 5-for-17 midway through the first half. The Huskies were no better, starting 6-of-15 and then making only one of their next nine shots.

The teams traded blows occasionally, as the Huskies countered Stanford’s strong inside trio of T’Nae Thiel, Kristen Newlin and Brooke Smith with accurate outside shooting. The Huskies played tough man-to-man defense that forced the Cardinal into off-balance shots.

But Stanford ended the half with a 13-8 run for a 33-29 lead at the break.

Wiggins came out of the locker room with a purpose, sparking the Cardinal with 12 second-half points. In one sequence, Wiggins pulled down a rebound, ran the length of the court to drain a short jumper, came back on the defensive end to come up with a steal and take it coast to coast to draw the foul. Wiggins was 9-for-9 from the free-throw line, scoring 15 points, pulling down several rebounds, and adding three assists and two steals. She is the early-season favorite to win Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors.

The young Huskies, with no seniors, could find no answers for the Cardinal’s strong inside game. Newlin added 14 points, a season-high 11 rebounds and two blocks, and Smith had 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.

The Cardinal improved to 32-2 on their home court dating back to the 2002-03 season. Stanford beat Washington for the third straight time and for the sixth time in seven games.

The Huskies never seemed to be able to establish any dominant game inside the paint against the 6-foot-3 Smith. Kristen O’Neill, who missed last season with a knee injury, led the Husky attack from the outside with four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists for Washington, which shot 31.5 percent, was out-rebounded 56-44 and committed 18 turnovers. Guard Jill Bell added 11 points.

Smith, a talented transfer center from Duke, made an impact on both ends for Stanford in the second half, going hard to the glass and sparking the offense with her quick passes. She scored back-to-back baskets to give the Cardinal an eight-point lead. Senior guard Kelley Suminski followed with a lay-in, and Newlin’s next basket gave Stanford a 12-point lead, 49-37.

At one point in the first half, Newlin scored six straight points in one spurt, but Washington’s youthful roster kept things close with hustle, hard work, and timely three pointers.

Susan King Borchardt came off the bench to score five points, in a limited 13 minutes of play. Borchardt, Stanford’s usual starting point guard, is still working her way back from a stress fracture in her left foot that kept her out of the first nine games of the season.

Even with the inside dominance of the Cardinal, it was the energetic play of Wiggins that kicked Stanford’s game up a notch and brought the reasonable crowd at Maples back into an otherwise lethargic, sloppy game. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has only had glowing comments for Wiggins’ play.

“She’s really a phenom. I think a lot of it really is her competitive desire,” VanDerveer said. “She has great poise. She’s something.”

The win brings the Cardinal to 3-1 in conference play. Stanford will travel to Tempe, Ariz. later this week to face Arizona and No. 24 Arizona State. Arizona State has exceeded expectations thus far in the season, racing out to a 10-2 record, 2-1 in the Pac-10.

Stanford’s win was its 30th straight home Pac-10 victory, and with a prodigy like Wiggins at the helm of a ship with solid veterans inside and out, there should be many more to come.