SAN JOSE, Calif. — It hadn’t been that often that Stanford had been held to under 60 points this season, heading into Monday’s game against Arizona.
But in the championship of the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, 59 was all the top-seeded Cardinal needed.
Behind Nicole Powell’s 19 points, Stanford defeated No. 3 Arizona, 59-49, in front of a tournament-high 5,757 fans at HP Pavilion to take the second annual tournament championship.
“We’re very proud to be Pac-10 Champions,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “It’s a tough league and we had to work to get it.”
The win ensures the Cardinal will receive the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. That tournament is set to begin on March 22, and Stanford is expected to play at its host facility, Maples Pavilion, to open up. Maples will also host the Western Regional.
Despite the loss, Arizona — ranked 21st in the nation, is also expected to receive a bid to the tournament.
“We know that in the second half, at least, we’ve proven that we can play with Stanford and we’re just as good as they are and we just hope that carries over in the NCAA Tournament,” Arizona’s Krista Warren said.
Powell was named the tournament’s most valuable player after scoring 18 points against both California and UCLA earlier in the tournament. Kelley Suminski, named to the All-Tournament Team, posted 11 points Monday against the Wildcats.
Arizona had three players named to the All-Tournament team as well. Warren had 10 points against the Cardinal, although she failed to score in the second half. Dee-Dee Wheeler had 13 against Stanford, while All Pac-10 Freshman Team member Shawntinice Polk was held to just five points on 2-of-6 shooting.
Stanford, ranked 9th in the nation, began the game on a torrid pace. The Cardinal led 11-2 after four minutes on the strength of two three-pointers by Suminski and a third by Powell.
“From the beginning of the game, we were back on our heels,” Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini said. “Stanford was hitting some great three-pointers.”
Powell connected on five of her first six shots, and scored 13 of Stanford’s first 18 points.
Stanford led by 14 points as late as nine minutes into the first half, but both teams went on a scoring drought for more than four minutes before Stanford’s Chelsea Trotter nailed a layup with 6:49 left.
The Wildcats eventually chipped away the Cardinal lead with an 11-2 run in the final three minutes of the half. Stanford still went into halftime with an 11-point lead, 35-24.
In the second frame, the Cardinal had its largest lead of the half early on at 11 points, but couldn’t pull away. Arizona got within five with 1:18 left, but Stanford kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard for the rest of the game.
Polk’s five points represented a season low for the Hanford, Calif., native. She was, however, able to pull in nine rebounds as
the Wildcats out-rebounded Stanford, 32-31.
“Our posts made up their mind they weren’t going to let Polk beat them tonight,” Powell said.
“They doubled and triple-teamed her early,” Bonvicini said.
The win gives Stanford its third straight Pac-10 Championship, although Arizona State upset the Cardinal, 70-63, last season in the finale of the Pac-10 Tournament.
“After our experience last year, why should we expect anything?” Suminski said when asked if the Cardinal was expecting to come in and dominate the tournament from the outset. “We’ve worked hard for what we’ve earned.”
The win also improves Stanford to 4-1 when being held to less than 60 points this season, the team’s only loss coming to Tennessee on Dec. 18. On the flip side, the Cardinal held an opponent to 50 points or less the eighth time this season. Stanford has won all eight of those contests.