Stanford is No. 1 in the Pacific-10 Conference women’s basketball power rankings. The rest is not so clear-cut.
With the first half of conference play wrapping up at the end of this week, Arizona State (14-4 overall, 5-2 Pac-10) is second behind Stanford, with four other teams — including Oregon — within one game of the Sun Devils.
All told, the Pac-10 crown will likely be up for grabs when the first women’s tournament is held at McArthur Court in March.

Powell named Player of the Week
For the third time this season, Stanford sophomore Nicole Powell was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week. Powell averaged nearly a triple-double — 21.5 points, 17 rebounds and 8.5 assists — as No. 4 Stanford (16-1, 6-0) swept Oregon (10-7, 5-3) and Oregon State (7-8, 4-3) at Maples Pavilion.
“Nicole had a monster game,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer told the Stanford Daily after Powell’s school-record 23-rebound performance against the Ducks. “She does so much for our team. She can play with anyone (in the country) — we know it, she knows it and you know it.”
Powell, the 2001 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, is averaging a double-double this season (16.5 points, 10.3 rebounds). In 47 career games, Powell has 16 double-doubles and three triple-doubles. No other player in Pac-10 history has recorded more than one triple-double in her career.

Trojans begin home stretch
Southern California, picked to finish fourth in the Pac-10 in the preseason media poll, could be the last team standing at the conference tournament. The Women of Troy are currently 5-2 in the Pac-10 (9-7 overall) — including an 83-73 win over Oregon in Los Angeles — as they begin a long stretch at home.
Five of USC’s next seven games are at home, and with a balanced attack in Ebony Hoffman (14.2 points, 8.7 rebounds) and Aisha Hollans (18.3, 7.1), the Trojans are tough to bet against.

In the ‘zona
After averaging less than 58 points a game during a three-game losing streak, Arizona (7-8, 3-4) torched Washington State and Washington last weekend, with 107 and 83 points, respectively.
The 107 points against the Cougars is the most Arizona has scored in four years and the most points scored in the Pac-10 this season. Sophomore guard Candice Allen scored a career-high 25 points in the 83-69 win over Washington on Saturday.