Feb. 2, 2001
LOS ANGELES - Freshman Nicole Powell (Phoenix, AZ/Mountain Pointe HS) had 18 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to lead Stanford University (11-7 overall, 5-3 Pac-10) to a 60-52 road win over UCLA (3-16, 2-6) on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The Cardinal has now won four straight, and has moved within just one game of Pac-10 leader Arizona State (14-6, 6-2), whom Stanford defeated 92-64 on Jan. 4 at Maples Pavilion. Stanford, which won for the sixth time in its last seven tries at Pauley Pavilion, has won two straight on the road after losing its first six games away from home this season.
It was a game of streaks.
Stanford started the trend by scoring the first 14 points of the game. A 3-pointer and jumper by Powell, as well as two buckets inside from senior Sarah Dimson (Norman, OK/Norman HS), helped give Stanford the 14-0 advantage just 4 minutes and 7 seconds into the contest. The Bruins did not get on the scoreboard until Pac-10 scoring leader Michelle Greco made a jumper at the 14:26 mark.
"The key for us was coming out so strong tonight," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. "The early run put them on their heels a little bit. This was a big win for us, and keeps us in the hunt in the Pac-10 race."
The Bruins later cut the lead to nine at 27-18, but the visitors scored the final seven points of the first half for a 34-18 lead at the break. Powell had a 3-pointer to highlight the run, and finished the first half with 12 points and eight rebounds.
UCLA came right back, however, scoring 12 of the first 15 points of the second half to cut the lead to five (37-32) with 14:29 remaining. Then the streaks continued. Stanford scored the next eight points to stretch the lead to 13 (45-32 @ 9:18), but the Bruins answered with 12 straight points of their own to cut the lead to one (45-44 @ 5:46).
The Cardinal then put the game away with one last run. Stanford scored the next seven points on two free throws by Lindsey Yamasaki (Oregon City, OR/Oregon City HS), a 3-pointer by Lauren St. Clair (Philadelphia, PA/Mt. St. Joseph's Academy) and a lay-up by Chelsea Trotter (San Dimas, CA/Brea-Olinda HS) that stretched the advantage to 52-44 with 3:36 remaining. UCLA could get no closer than six points the rest of the way.
In addition to Powell's fifth double-double in eight Pac-10 games, Yamasaki added 12 points and Trotter a career-high 10 for the winners. The Cardinal also out-rebounded the Bruins 45-34, and has now outrebounded its opposition five straight games and eight of the last nine.
Defensively, Stanford held Greco ? the conference's leading scorer ? to 12 points on 6-of-18 shooting. She came into the game averaging 20.1 points per contest. As a team, the Bruins shot just 34.4 (21-of-61) percent from the field.
"We worked really hard defensively tonight," VanDerveer said. "Rebounding and defense are the reasons we have been successful lately."
The Cardinal concludes its two-game trip through Los Angeles when it takes on USC (8-11, 3-5) on Sunday afternoon at the L.A. Sports Arena at 3:00 p.m. The game will be televised live nationally by the Fox Sports Network.