First place in the Pacific-10 Conference will be up for grabs Thursday when No. 10 Stanford and Southern California battle at Maples Pavilion.
Two weeks ago, the Cardinal (18-5 overall, 11-3 Pac-10) sat atop the conference at 10-1 and
appeared to be on its way to a fourth consecutive Pac-10 title. Since then, Stanford has lost two of its last three games and leads the Trojans (14-9, 11-4) by only a half game in the standings.
Arizona (18-7, 10-4) is also in the hunt, sitting a game behind the Cardinal.
Stanford has relied on All-American forward Nicole Powell to carry the offensive load for most of the season. The 6-foot-2 senior is averaging a double double — 20.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game — but her teammates were starting to depended on her a little too much.
That changed Saturday when the Cardinal ran a more team-oriented attack in a 61-53 win over California.
“We can’t depend on one person to carry us,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer told the Stanford Daily after the game. “And that’s what everyone said. T’Nae (Thiel) said ‘I’ll help out,’ and Susan (Borchardt) pushed it, and I thought Kelley (Suminski) and Azella (Perryman) played well.”
USC has its own star in All-American candidate Ebony Hoffman. The 6-foot-2 senior is averaging 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game while leading the Trojans to what many would consider an overachieving season.
Hoffman has been the beneficiary of strong performances from her supporting cast. Rometra Craig and Meghan Gnekow have helped keep the opposition’s focus off Hoffman. The duo has combined to average 18.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
Each player elevated her play in a game against Arizona State last Thursday. The trio combined for 51 points in a 65-50 win over the Sun Devils.
“My teammates make me have no pressure,” Hoffman told the Daily Trojan after the game. “They step up just like (Gnekow) and (Craig) stepped up tonight.”
A win by Stanford would give the Cardinal the inside track to a Pac-10 title. A win by USC, and things get very interesting between the Trojans, Cardinal and Wildcats.

Hot streak
UCLA is smoking hot.
The Bruins (14-10, 9-6) are making a run at an NCAA Tournament berth, having won their last five games.
UCLA last lost to Oregon Jan. 29.
The catalyst for the UCLA run has been freshman Noelle Quinn. The 6-foot guard has scored at least 20 points in each of the last five games, setting a Bruin freshman record. The best performance during the streak came Thursday when Quinn’s 31 points helped UCLA defeat Arizona 87-68.
Quinn has reached double figures in 15 consecutive games and has become the Bruin’s go-to-option on offense.
“I remember during the recruiting process that I told (head coach) Kathy Olivier that I wanted to make an impact early on, and I didn’t want to wait a couple of years,” Quinn told the Daily Bruin. “This is what I asked for, and I have it right now. I just want to take advantage of it.”
Two of UCLA’s final three games are against Stanford and USC, making it difficult for the Bruins to end their season on an eight-game winning streak. If UCLA does pull off the upsets, however, it has an outside chance of finishing third in the conference and getting a favorable draw in the Pac-10 Tournament.