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Women's Basketball

No. 5 Stanford's Win Streak Ended By USC

Box Score

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Stanford isn't used to losing to Southern California - or any other Pac-10 team for that matter.

Rometra Craig scored nine of her 19 points in the final six minutes as USC upset No. 5 Stanford 75-72 Sunday, ending the Cardinal's 28-game conference winning streak.

Nicole Powell scored a season-high 34 points and Chelsea Trotter added 10 for Stanford (15-2, 7-1), which had won 10 straight overall.

Jessica Cheeks had 15 points, Meghan Gnekow 12 and Kim Gipson and Ebony Hoffman 10 each for Southern California, which won for just the second time in its last 18 games against the Cardinal.

The Trojans (9-11, 4-5) trailed only once, 60-58, then took the lead for good on Craig's 3-point basket with 5:56 to play.

Susan King's 3-pointer pulled the Cardinal to 66-64 with 3:41 left. But Craig made a 3-point shot and two free throws to give Southern California a 71-64 lead with 1:07 to play.

Ebony Hoffman's free throw completed a 6-0 run that put the Trojans ahead 72-66 with 45.3 seconds left. Stanford scored the game's final six points on Sebnem Kimyacioglu's 3-pointer with nine seconds left and Kelley Suminski's three free throws with four-tenths of a second remaining.

The Trojans led 49-35 at halftime, then were outscored 15-1 over the first 5:21 of the second half as the Cardinal moved into its first tie, 50-50, with 14:19 to play. Powell had three 3-point baskets and 11 points during the run.

"I thought we made a really good comeback in the second half," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "We dug ourselves a hole. I don't think we played with the intensity or the aggressiveness that we need to."

Stanford tied the score twice more before taking its first lead on Powell's two free throws with 6:12 remaining.

Southern California scored the game's first 10 points and the Trojans shot a season-best 61 percent in the first half, making 20 of 33 shots. The 49 points were the most the Trojans had scored in a half this season and the most allowed by Stanford.

Powell's 34 points gave her 1,155 for her career, moving her past Jill Yanke and Kami Anderson into 19th place on the school's career list.