No. 2 Stanford Crushes USC

Stanford showed Friday night it is more than ready for the Pacific 10 Conference tournament.

The second-ranked Cardinal trailed USC, 36-28, at halftime, then dismantled the Trojans in the second half for a 78-60 victory before 1,779 at the Sports Arena.

Nicole Powell, the probable conference player of the year, had 36 points and eight rebounds to lift Stanford (27-1 overall, 17-0 in the Pac-10) to its 19th consecutive victory. Lindsey Hunter added 20, with 15 points coming in the second half.

Ebony Hoffman had 14 points and eight rebounds for USC (14-12, 10-7).

USC used a 19-4 run in the final 6:09 to take a 36-28 halftime lead, but Stanford scored the first 14 points of the second half for a 42-36 advantage.

Hoffman ended the Trojan drought at 14:48 with a three-point basket. By the 10-minute mark, however, the Cardinal run had mushroomed to 28-6, and its lead was 56-42.

The Trojans, who made only seven of 39 shots in the second half (18%), would get no closer than 14 points.

“We expected them to get back into the game,” USC Coach Chris Gobrecht said.

“What I take issue with is how long it took us to recover. It was still a four-point game with 15 minutes left and we’re still grieving.”

The conference tournament begins Friday at Oregon.

Mike Terry

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UCLA 58, California 48--Gennifer Arranaga scored a career-high 14 points as the Bruins held off the Bears before 1,043 at Pauley Pavilion.

Whitney Jones and Shalada Allen added 12 points each for UCLA (8-18, 4-13).

The Bruins led, 32-25, at halftime and extended their lead to 49-36 with 4:05 remaining. Cal closed within 49-40, but Natalie Nakase and Malika Leatham made key free throws down the stretch to help secure the victory.

LaTasha O’Keith scored nine points to lead California (7-19, 2-15), which made only 14 of 62 shots (22.6%).

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TOP 25

No. 18 Old Dominion 90, Hofstra 57--Hamchetou Maiga and Monique Coker each scored 18 points to lead the Monarchs (20-5, 15-0 Colonial Athletic Assn.) to a rout of the Pride (8-17, 5-11) at Hempstead, N.Y.