Feb 26, 2004
By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - When Corrie Mizusawa emerged from the locker room after Oregon's upset of No. 10 Stanford, the smattering of fans still left at MacArthur Court gave her a standing ovation.
The Oregon guard's shot with 8.2 seconds left gave the Ducks a 67-66 victory Thursday night over 10th-ranked Stanford, ending the Ducks' six-game losing streak against the Cardinal.
"We had nothing to lose today, so we decided to go out and put it all on the floor," Mizusawa said. "So that's what we did."
Mizusawa hit a pair of free throws to pull the Ducks (13-14, 5-12 Pac-10) to 66-65 with 21.8 seconds left. Stanford's Nicole Powell missed a free throw before Mizusawa raced down the court for her game-winning basket.
Powell, who leads the Cardinal in both scoring and rebounds, missed her final shot as time ran out.
Stanford went into the game with a one-game lead over Arizona for the Pac-10 championship. But Arizona beat Washington State 77-72 Thursday night, meaning both teams go into Saturday's final regular-season games with the league title on the line.
"We're going to have to play a lot better than this," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "We are going to have to look at who is contributing for us, especially who is producing on the defensive end.
"We have to execute down the stretch. It's very disappointing to have a game in hand and let it slip away."
Freshman Eleanor Haring led Oregon with 18 points and seven rebounds. Mizusawa finished with 13 points and nine assists.
Powell, who started cold and sat out for eight minutes early in the game, had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Stanford (20-6, 13-4), which lost for the first time in four games. Kelley Suminski had 19 points.
"I don't know how I feel right now," Powell said. "I'm really upset with everything."
Oregon led by as many as 10 points early and went into the half with the game tied at 33. But the Cardinal pulled ahead 47-39 on Powell's 3-pointer.
The Ducks never let the game get too far out of reach, and pulled to 56-55 on Andrea Bills' layup. Kayla Steen missed a free throw that would have tied it, and Powell came back with six straight points to make it 62-55.
Oregon had a 66-61 lead with 36 seconds left, Mizusawa hit a jumper, her two free throws and the game-winning layup.
"We just wanted to play a basketball game that was a winning effort, where every possession, every rebound, and every loose ball we went after and we'd see where that took us," Oregon coach Bev Smith said
Oregon took a 13-3 lead after three straight 3-pointers from Haring, Kayla Steen and Mizusawa.
Stanford narrowed it to 20-19 on Susan Borchardt's 3-pointer, then took a 24-20 lead on Kristen Newlin's basket and Suminski's 3-pointer.
Powell played less than three of the opening 10 minutes, but returned as Stanford took over. Chelsea Trotter scored off Powell's well-placed bounce pass under the basket to make it 28-23 for the Cardinal.
Powell finished with 12 minutes of the first half, scoring just two points.
The Ducks pulled to 33-32 on Brandi Davis' 3-pointer, then tied it at 33 just before the break on Yadili Okwumabua's free throw.