Jan. 23, 2004
LOS ANGELES (AP) - "I never thought we'd lose this game," Stanford's Nicole Powell said Thursday night, several minutes after helping to assure that the No. 6 Cardinal wouldn't.
Powell recorded seven of her 27 points in overtime as Stanford (15-2, 8-0 Pac-10) outscored UCLA, 13-6, in a five-minute extra session to remain unbeaten in Pacific-10 women's basketball with a 78-71 victory over the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion.
Powell, a senior All-American guard-forward, made nine of her 16 field goal tries, including five of eight from 3-point range, and sank four of her six free theow attempts. Nikki Blue led UCLA (8-9, 3-4) with 25 points, tying her season high. But her field goal to open the scoring in overtime was the only basket in nine attempts for the Bruins in the extra session.
The victory was the ninth in a row for Stanford over UCLA, dating to the 1999-2000 season. The Cardinal has won its past eight games this season and the Bruins have dropped three in row.
"We played well," said UCLA coach Kathy Olivier. "But I thought we rushed things too much in the overtime, got over-anxious."
UCLA took an 11-4 lead, but Stanford went on a 16-4 run to take a 20-15 advantage. Powell made two of her 3-point shots and eight points overall during that spurt.
UCLA went back in front, 32-28, at halftime.
Stanford's only double-figure scorer besides Powell was T'Nae Thiel, who scored 10 points. Her two free throws with 38 seconds left in overtime gave the Cardinal a 76-71 lead.
Lisa Willis scored 20 points for UCLA and Noelle Quinn scored 14, seven in the first half.