Dec. 30, 2001
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Lindsey Yamasaki was frustrated in the first half, then she frustrated Southern California in the second half.
Yamasaki scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half as No. 6 Stanford beat the Women of Troy 78-66 on Sunday in a battle of Pac-10 unbeatens.
"It's so tough when you get into foul trouble early because they were stupid fouls," said Yamasaki. "I just sat there on the bench wanting to put myself in because I wanted to play so bad. It just made me angry and frustrated. I had to take a step back and catch my breath."
Nicole Powell recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 26 points and 10 rebounds as the Cardinal (12-1, 4-0) beat USC for the 26th time in their last 29 meetings. Kelley Suminski had 10 points.
"Against USC, rebounding and taking care of the ball are the keys," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. "We did a good job of that. USC can make you look bad. Nicole and Lindsay are our big-time players and they made big-time plays."
Ebony Hoffman scored 22 points and had 12 rebounds, and Tiffany Elmore added 19 points for the USC (7-6, 3-1), which had its season-high four-game winning streak snapped.
Elmore became the 17th player in USC history to reach the 1,000-point mark.
The Women of Troy had to deal with a severe case of food poisoning in addition to Stanford. USC sophomore Aisha Hollans, who finished with 10 points, did not start for the first time this season as a result.
She left the court suddenly during the first half, unable to shoot a free throw. She went directly into the locker room.
Hollans, the team's leading scorer, has missed 15 consecutive three-point attempts after making 13 of her first 25.
"It was horrible," said USC coach Chris Gobrecht. "It hit our assistant coach, trainer and three players severely. Hollans was throwing up all day (Saturday)."
Stanford, off to its best Pac-10 start since 1996-97, outscored the Women of Troy 16-6 over the final five minutes.
"We just did not defend going down the stretch," said Gobrecht. "We were dragging. With a lot of kids sick, we ran out of gas. But Stanford also has so many weapons they can throw at you, you can't key on any one person."
USC, also off to their best start since 1996-97, fell to 0-5 when trailing at the half.
Rachel Woodward's turnaround jumper with 5:11 remaining to pulled USC within 62-60, but Lauren St. Clair's 3-pointer less than a minute later gave the Cardinal some breathing room.
"They took the life out of us after St. Clair hit that 3," said Hoffman. "After that it was down hill."
USC missed 13 of its first 14 shots and fell behind 13-4.
St. Clair, who had 10 points, hit a jumper to give Stanford its biggest lead at 25-9 with 7:28 left in the half. USC rallied to within six before the Cardinal took a 36-28 lead into halftime.