All good things must come to an end.
That saying has been around even longer than Stanford’s winning streak. The Cardinal, who had won 10-straight games overall and 28-straight in Pacific-10 Conference play, had to face that bitter truth Sunday.
And after All-American Nicole Powell’s buzzer-beater secured her Cardinal a win over UCLA on Friday, her season-high 34 points wouldn’t be enough to hold off Southern California on Sunday.
Stanford, which may once have seemed untouchable, was brought down to a human level by the Trojans, as USC won 75-72.
Stanford put itself in a tough spot, trailing at halftime 49-35, and even a 15-1 run over USC in the second half wouldn’t be enough.
“I thought we made a really good comeback in the second half,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “We dug ourselves a hole. I don’t think we played with the intensity or the aggressiveness that we need to.”
Previously No. 5, Stanford (15-2, 7-1 Pac-10) still sits atop the conference and is headed for a prime spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans moved themselves one game closer to .500 in Pac-10 play and sit in a tie for fifth in conference standings.
VanDerveer made her disgust in her team’s effort well-known to the public and described her team’s lack of effort as “uninspired.”
“We became a stand-around team,” she told The Stanford Daily.
The Trojans’ victory came partly because of the play of junior Rometra Craig, who scored nine of her 19 points in the final six minutes of USC’s victory over the Cardinal. Craig was named the Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Player of the Week on Monday.

Cougar woes continue
Washington State has become the doormat on the Pac-10.
The Cougars sit in last place in the conference standings with a winless record of 0-16 overall and 0-8 in Pac-10 play.
The women of WSU have not won a game since Nov. 29, 2001, against Gonzaga. The Cougars haven’t had a conference win since a victory over Cal on Feb. 24, 2001.
But despite the fact that the Cougars are winless, they are not heartless.
“Sometimes the ball bounces the other way,” WSU head coach Sherri Murrell said after the loss to Oregon State. “I told the kids that’s how life is. You could be doing all the right things and something happens and it doesn’t go your way. But these kids have a look in their eye; they know how they can play. They are getting themselves in position to win, and it will happen.”

Polk storms onto leaderboard
Shawntinice Polk has made her presence known on the Pac-10 statistics leaderboard as the starting center for Arizona.
The Wildcats are in a tie for third with UCLA in the conference standings, mostly because of the redshirt freshman.
Polk is dominating in the statistics as she leads the conference in rebounding with an 11.2 per game average. She also ranks first in field goal percentage at .615 on average.
The Hanford, California native also sits in a comfortable second in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game, and blocked shots, where she earns 2.17 per game.