Pac-10 crown is just first step for Stanford women Pac-10 crown is just first step for Stanford women (February 26, 2003)

by Rick Eymer

icole Powell was the last to climb the ladder, snipping off the last of the net on the south side of the court.

Each member of the Stanford women's basketball team got the chance to climb to use the scissors to cut the net following a 79-61 victory over visiting UCLA on Saturday in front of a season-high crowd of 5,084.

In ninth-ranked Stanford's final regular-season home game, the Cardinal (14-2, 22-3) clinched their third straight Pac-10 title and the 12th in 17 years.

Yet Stanford knows bigger things may be ahead.

"Conference championships aren't like regional or national championships, but to get where we want to go, we have to win games and do all the little things," said Powell, who scored a game-high 24 points in Saturday's win. "It feels good to get here and win it."

For Powell, it feels good just to be here. She missed the team's first nine games struggling with a bulging disc in her back. She's playing like it doesn't bother her at all.

"It seems like a long time ago when I was hurt," she said. "I still exercise my back to try and strengthen it and not regress. It feels OK."

Stanford survived several early season injuries to make it this far. Not only Powell, but Susan King and Chelsea Trotter (who got her first career start on Saturday) couldn't do much practicing at the beginning.

"This is an amazing group," said head coach Tara VanDerveer. "I think we're just finding ourselves. I think we've got a lot more to go and ways to improve."

Stanford finishes its conference season with a game at Arizona on Thursday at 6 p.m., and at Arizona State on Saturday.

The Pac-10 tournament starts at the San Jose Arena on Friday, March 7. Stanford is the top seed and won't play until Saturday, March 8 at 5 p.m. against either the eighth- or ninth-place team. The finals will be held Monday, March 10.

"I hope we didn't win this too early," said VanDerveer. "I hope we don't lose our edge. We need to be hungry. We need to keep our competitive edge."

Stanford has its sights set on the Final Four in Atlanta, a road which winds through Maples Pavilion, where the Cardinal host NCAA first- and second-round games plus the NCAA West Regional.

"That will be a tremendous advantage for them," said UCLA coach Kathy Oliver. "They're a pretty good basketball team on the road but they're even better at home."

Kelley Suminski added 20 points as the Cardinal won their 25th straight home game, the second longest current streak in Division I.

Trotter grabbed nine rebounds in her starting debut, tying Powell for game honors.

"Chelsea is playing more consistently," said VanDerveer. "She's our best low block presence."

Stanford won the Pac-10 title with no seniors and that's a source of astonishment for VanDerveer.

"It's a great young team and we're fortunate to be in this situation," said VanDerveer. "To be where we are from where we started is amazing. We have a great player with a great cast behind her."

Stanford went 8-1 in Powell's absence, including a victory over then-No.2 Kansas State.

"That just made us stronger," said Suminski. "Every team has their challenges and that was our challenge. We never lost faith."

Powell scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in Stanford's 63-55 win over USC on Thursday.

Powell was two assists shy of recording her seventh career triple-double as she scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds in the second half alone.

"I felt like I was missing some open shots in the first half," said Powell. "I was shooting short. In the second half they were falling for me. I just tried to make sure I was aggressive."

Portola Valley resident and former Menlo School athlete Rometra Craig scored 14 points for the Trojans (12-14, 7-8), who lost their second straight after winning six of their previous seven.

"We came out strong but they changed to a man defense and we didn't adjust to that very well," said Craig.

Trotter scored 12 points and T'Nae Thiel had 11 for Stanford.

Powell had her 27th career double-double, and her seventh in 15 games this year.

"I thought we did pretty well against Nicole," said USC coach Chris Gobrecht. "Everybody knows she's a great player. What sets her apart is she's a phenomenal rebounder for her position. That's the back breaker."

USC had a 33-30 lead with 17:40 remaining to play. Susan King tied it a little over a minute later with a 3-pointer and Powell hit a 3-pointer to put Stanford up 36-33 with 14:53 left.

The Cardinal eventually built a 10-point lead at 47-37, but had to survive a couple of USC rallies to hang onto the win.