Women's College Basketball
Pac-10 roundup: Arizona scores upset over No. 7 Stanford

By Seattle Times news services

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TUCSON, Ariz. — It was a must-win situation for Arizona if the Wildcats wanted to keep pace with seventh-ranked Stanford in the Pac-10 title chase.

Shawntinice Polk had 21 points and a career-high 19 rebounds as the Wildcats beat Stanford 88-83 last night for their 24th consecutive victory at McKale Center.

"With this win, we are right back where we want to be, which is at the top of the Pac-10," coach Joan Bonvicini said.

Polk dominated inside for Arizona (17-5, 9-2 Pac-10), which took a 13-point lead with 14:37 left before making 17 of 18 free throws in the final six minutes. The Wildcats avenged a 20-point loss to the Cardinal on Jan. 10.

Dee-Dee Wheeler added 19 points and Natalie Jones 17 for the Wildcats, who led 34-32 at halftime.

"We lost horrible down in Stanford," Wheeler said. "This showed a lot of heart. It is a really big win."

Stanford (17-4, 10-2) was led by Nicole Powell's 22 points.

"Arizona deserved the win. They played very well. Their defense was very aggressive," Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They got the ball into Polk effectively. They had five different players in double figures."

It was the first time Arizona had beaten a seventh-ranked team since the Wildcats upset Washington in January 1998.
USC 83, Washington St. 47

PULLMAN — The Women of Troy (12-8, 9-3) had a commanding 46-16 lead at halftime, and the Cougars (5-16, 1-11) weren't able to recover.

Meghan Gnekow scored a game-high 15 points for USC, and Ebony Hoffman had 12 points and 10 rebounds

Bianca McCall led WSU with 13 points, her third consecutive game scoring in double figures.

Arizona St. 62, California 43

TEMPE, Ariz. — Carrie Buckner scored 15 points and Kristen Kovesdy added 14 for Arizona State. Betsy Boardman had eight points, six rebounds and five assists for the Sun Devils (14-6, 8-3 Pac-10), who have allowed only 61 points per game in their last eight outings.

Kristin Iwanaga scored 11 points to pace California (9-12, 2-10), which lost its eighth consecutive game.

Arizona State led 32-24 at halftime and coasted from there en route to improving its home-court record to 10-1 this season.

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