Stanford Zones Out Arizona and Secures Title

Arizona and Stanford were the two best teams in the Pacific 10 Conference regular season, so much so that they ended up as co-champions.

But the conference tournament has space for only one winner. On Monday night that was the top-seeded and No. 11-ranked Cardinal, a 51-46 winner over the Wildcats, in front of 3,501 at the HP Pavilion.

Stanford (24-6), which got 24 points from Nicole Powell, has appeared in all three conference tournament finals and is the first two-time winner of the tournament. The victory gives the Cardinal the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

It was the second consecutive season in which Arizona (24-8) lost in the conference tournament final. But the Wildcats, who had their six-game winning streak ended, appear all but assured of getting an NCAA bid.

In a game that looked more suited to the defense-oriented Big East than the offensive-minded Pac-10, Stanford outlasted Arizona because it did a better job containing Wildcat star Shawntinice Polk -- limiting her to eight points, including only one field goal in the second half -- than Arizona did on Powell.

“We’re very disappointed,” Arizona Coach Joan Bonvicini said. “But [in the second half] we didn’t execute well.”

For the opening 15 minutes, Arizona was superb, showing balance on offense and forcing the Cardinal to shoot long, low-percentage shots. Leading, 31-15, with 4:41 left in the half, the Wildcats looked in control.

“I thought we looked frantic,” Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said. “We rushed every aspect of our offense. I don’t look at the score when it’s that bad. I didn’t even know what it was.”

But when Stanford switched to a zone, Arizona didn’t score again in the half. And Stanford finished on an 8-0 run to cut the Wildcat lead to eight points, at 31-23, at halftime.

In the second half Stanford’s defense limited Arizona to six-for-27 shooting and 15 points total. Powell was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Joining her on the all-tournament team were Polk and Aimee Grzyb from Arizona, Kelley Suminski from Stanford, Nikki Blue from UCLA and Giuliana Mendiola from Washington.