Bruins Fall Short Against Stanford

You could see it in 5-foot-2 Natalie Nakase’s eyes as she fought for the ball against players a head taller.

Nakase and her Bruin teammates scrapped and clawed but lost to Stanford, 60-52, before 3,101 at Pauley Pavilion Friday night, their third loss in a row.

The defeat dropped UCLA to 3-16 overall and in last place in the Pacific 10 Conference at 2-6.

The Bruins, who trailed by 16 points at the start of second half, rallied with a 12-0 run. Michelle Greco had six points in the flurry that cut UCLA’s deficit to 45-44 with 5:46 left, but that’s as close as the Bruins got.

Stanford (11-7, 5-3) used three three pointers, including one by Nicole Powell with 1:45 left, to take a commanding 60-48 lead.

“They hit some big shots at the end and pulled away,” said UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier, adding that Stanford’s height advantage--6-foot-7 and 6-6 centers Cori Enghusen and Carolyn Moos--wasn’t a big factor in the outcome.

“It wasn’t a problem for our team. We weren’t discouraged,” Olivier said.

But freshman guard Powell was a problem for the Bruins. She led the Cardinal with a game-high 18 points and 15 rebounds. She also had five assists and made four of five three-pointers.

“I think it helped that UCLA had a shorter lineup,” Powell said. “But UCLA [still] played very aggressive.”

Aggressive enough to force 27 Stanford turnovers, but poor shooting hurt the Bruins. They were one of 10 from three-point range and shot 34.4% from the field.

Greco, the Pac-10’s leading scorer (20.1 points per game), had only 12 points, and said she had a hard time getting her shot off in the first half.

Stanford scored the game’s first 14 points before Greco broke the Bruin drought with a layup at 14:48. The Cardinal led at halftime, 34-18.

Lindsey Yamasaki had 12 points for Stanford, which won its fourth game in a row.

Kristee Porter led the Bruins with 13 points and nine rebounds.