Stanford Gets Past Arizona State

Nicole Powell scored 11 straight points in the second half and finished with 29 and nine rebounds, and No. 7 Stanford remained undefeated in Pacific 10 play with a 60-46 victory over Arizona State on Thursday night at Palo Alto.

The Cardinal (12-2, 5-0) improved to 8-1 this season at Maples Pavilion, where its only loss was to fifth-ranked Tennessee in overtime. Stanford won 15 in a row at home last season before Minnesota ended the Cardinal’s 26-game home winning streak in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Powell, Stanford’s leading scorer and an All-America candidate, is still nursing a sprained left ankle she hurt in a loss at Texas Tech on Dec. 21. Although she seemed to favor her ankle, it didn’t do anything to her shooting touch against the Sun Devils (8-5, 2-2).

No. 1 Duke 77, Georgia Tech 45 -- The Blue Devils (12-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their 46th consecutive game in the conference, including the ACC tournament. They haven’t lost in the league since North Carolina State beat them, 69-55, on Feb. 18, 2001.

Duke took control early with a 17-1 run. The Yellow Jackets (10-4, 1-1) shot only 21% in the first half.

No. 5 Tennessee 83, Arkansas 44 -- The Lady Vols (11-1) took control early, racing to a 24-9 lead with 6:53 to go in the first half of the Southeastern Conference opener. They extended their SEC home-game winning streak to 48 .

The Razorbacks (11-3), who came in with a seven-game winning streak, made only six of 27 shots in the first half and were unable to recover in their SEC opener.

Arkansas was nine for 33 in the second half to finish the game shooting 25%.

No. 6 Minnesota 72, Northwestern 40 -- The Golden Gophers (13-0, 2-0 Big Ten) are off to the best start in school history. They won 12 in a row to open last season.

Minnesota made its first nine shots of the game at Evanston, Ill., and took a 25-2 lead. Northwestern (7-6, 0-2) committed 25 turnovers.

No. 8 Louisiana Tech 110, Nevada 47 -- The Lady Techsters (9-2, 2-1 Western Athletic Conference) increased their winning streak to 152 games against unranked opponents and to 87 against conference opponents in home games.

No. 9 Penn State 92, Iowa 64 -- Kelly Mazzante scored 30 points, and the Nittany Lions (10-3, 3-0 Big Ten) had 25 points off turnovers to beat the Hawkeyes (7-6, 1-1) at State College, Pa. Penn State closed the game with a 22-10 run.

No. 10 Purdue 77, No. 23 Michigan State 67 -- The Boilermakers (11-2, 1-1 Big Ten) became the first team to score more than 68 points against the Spartans (10-3, 1-2), No. 1 in the league in points allowed.

It was the second straight conference loss for Michigan State but the first defeat in the last seven home games.

No. 12 Georgia 88, Mississippi State 70 -- Christi Thomas had 27 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (12-2) at Athens, Ga., in the SEC opener for both teams.

No. 13 North Carolina 58, North Carolina State 57 -- La’Tangela Atkinson scored from underneath the basket with 3.9 seconds left to give the Tar Heels (13-1, 3-0 ACC) the victory at Raleigh. Kaayla Chones had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Wolfpack.

Illinois 52, No. 22 Ohio State 51 -- The Buckeyes (9-3, 1-1 Big Ten) rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit and had the ball with six seconds to go, but failed to get off a final shot at Champaign, Ill.