STANFORD, Calif. – Brittany McPhee scored 21, Marta Sniezek flirted with a triple-double and Stanford held off USC 72-65 in Maples Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.
Big yet again with the game on the line, McPhee scored nine of her game-high 21 in the fourth quarter two days after dropping in 13 in the final period against No. 11 UCLA. The 5-foot-8 Sniezek was Stanford's leading rebounder, pulling down a career-high 10 to go with eight points, six assists and only one turnover.
Alanna Smith also chipped in 13 for the Cardinal (8-6, 2-0), which has started its conference schedule with two wins and has an entirely different feeling heading into 2018. Stanford entered Pac-12 play losers of three of its last four and with its worst nonconference record in nearly 20 years. Out of the rankings for the first time since 2001, that will surely change when the new poll gets released on Monday.
USC (10-3, 0-2), which had its starting five play 199 of 200 minutes on Friday at Cal, didn't show any sluggishness at the outset. The Trojans built a 12 point lead late in the first quarter when Minyon Moore made a layup at 3:14 to put her team up 20-8.
Stanford closed the quarter on a 7-0 run and extended the spurt to 15-2 after Alanna Smith hit a pair of free throws three minutes into the second to give the Cardinal its first lead since the game's first bucket, 23-22. The teams would see-saw back and forth over the final seven minutes of the half, with each taking a four-point edge before USC ultimately brought a 34-33 lead into the break.
Stanford opened the second half with a triple from Smith and wouldn't trail again. Sadie Edwards hit a layup to pull the Trojans even, but two offensive rebounds extended a Cardinal possession and McPhee made USC pay, nailing one of her three 3-pointers to give Stanford the lead for good with just over 18 minutes to go.
Stanford's "closer," McPhee scored eight straight points to end the third quarter and start the fourth to give the Cardinal a 58-50 lead.
The Trojans cut it to three on a couple of occasions midway through the fourth, but each time Stanford answered with finishes at the rim from Smith and Nadia Fingall.
Kiana Williams scored 13 for Stanford, including a pair of big triples in the first quarter to calm the Cardinal after a three-minute scoreless drought allowed USC to reel off eight straight points.
Stanford tied a season high with 19 assists on its 25 made field goals. Sniezek led the way with six and has 26 assists against just eight turnovers to go with 5.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in the last four games.
McPhee was magnificent in her third game after returning from injury, pouring in 21 on 9-of-19 shooting. She's scored 20+ in each of the three games since coming back and is averaging 24.7 points on better than 51 percent from the floor in those outings.
Stanford, one of four conference schools to go undefeated on the opening weekend of league action, next heads to Arizona to face the Wildcats (4-9, 0-2) on Friday at 5 p.m. PT.
