Feb 23, 2002
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Nicole Powell's latest performance had her coach raving about her.
"I think she's fabulous," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "She's very talented and she showed how competitive she is. I think she was an excellent floor leader for us."
Powell scored 24 of her career-high 36 points in the second half as No. 2 Stanford beat Southern California 78-60 on Friday night for its 19th straight win.
Powell shot 13-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-6 3-pointers, and had eight rebounds, and Lindsey Yamasaki added 20 points for the Cardinal (27-1, 17-0 Pacific-10).
Ebony Hoffman led the Trojans (14-12, 10-7) with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Aisha Hollans added 13 points.
Powell, a finalist for the women's Naismith Award, led a second-half rally that gave Stanford the lead for good.
Southern California led 36-28 at halftime, but Powell scored 15 points during a 21-3 run that put the Cardinal up 49-39 with 7:40 gone in the second.
"I was mad at the team," said Powell, who was challenged by Vanderveer at the break to step up.
The Trojans missed their first eight shots in that half and shot a season-low 29.3 percent overall. Coach Chris Gobrecht said her team lost concentration at the wrong time.
"We backed off of them," Gobrecht said. "If you go after them and chase them, they'll struggle. But we didn't do that. We stood around with our hands in our pockets."
Stanford shot 68 percent in the second half and finished with a field-goal percentage of 61.7 percent, their second-best this season.
"We were very sloppy and we played pathetic defense in the first half," said VanDerveer, whose team committed 25 turnovers. "Sometimes, it seems like our team has to get a little bit of a bloody nose before we join the fight."