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Third times a charm?
By Maureen Mullen, Special to CNNSI.com Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer lost her first point guard, sophomore Jamie Carey, before the season even began to recurrent concussion injuries. While Carey's void could never be completely filled, freshman Susan King seemed to be doing a pretty good job. The newcomer piloted the Cardinal squad like a veteran, leading the team in minutes played while putting up impressive assist to turnover statistics, and averaging 11.3 points per game. However in Wednesday's 102-98 overtime loss to Oklahoma, VanDerveer saw her second guard go down. King tore her ACL late in the first half, forcing her to the sidelines for the remainder of the season. With Carey and King out, VanDerveer was forced to name 6'2" freshman Nicole Powell as her new point guard. Powell, who is used to playing the post, vigorously contributes all over the floor for Stanford. In her first game at the helm, the Cardinal win over Utah, Powell had a near triple-double with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. "I believe in Nicole," said VanDerveer after the game. "I think point guard is her true position and I thought she made great decisions today, she showed great poise, and she has a feel for the game that you can't teach. As sad as I am, as upset as I am about the situation with Susan, obviously with Susan and Jamie together, you wonder why. But then there's Nicole, and I think she's fabulous. I really have tremendous confidence in her as our floor leader."
Bombing BruinsThe hits just keep on coming for UCLA. Off to their worst start (1-10) in recent memory, the Bruins have lost critical players such as Nicole Kaczmarski to transfer and LaCresha Flannigan to academic ineligibility. On Saturday UCLA fell to Kaczmarski's new school, Georgia, in their final game before the onset of the conference season. The only returning player on the Bruin roster that saw any significant action last year is junior Michelle Greco, who currently leads the Pac-10 in scoring. She is joined by a chorus of junior college transfers, true freshman and red-shirt freshmen. "I'm not used to this," Bruins coach Kathy Olivier said. "This is UCLA. We've had great teams and we have high expectations, but we have people playing major minutes who have never played Division I."
It's cold in Phoenix?
Despite chilly mid-50 temperatures, Arizona State's outdoor match-up with Tennessee saw both a school and Pac-10 record crowd of 16,282. The game was played as a benefit for Breast Cancer research and is believed to be the first women's college basketball game played outdoors. With both the Sun Devils and the Lady Vols huddled in their warm-ups on the sidelines, both teams seemed to heat up when they hit the floor. While Arizona was able to get within two twice early in the second half, 2000 national player of the year Tamika Catchings proved too much for the Wildcats, scoring 24 points for Tennessee. Transfers Amanda Levens and Melody Johnson continue to lead the Sun Devil offense. Levens scored a team high 21 points in the contest, while Johnson chipped in 10. The pair each had 14 points in Saturday's win over Wake Forest.
One final tournamentWashington State finished up its early season tournament schedule, dropping an 80-66 contest to Montana in the Championship of the Lady Griz Holiday Classic. The Cougars prevailed in an opening contest over Samford. Both Katie Nyseth and Kelley Berglund earned all-tournament honors. Entering the Pac-10 season Washington State has a 5-5 record, and has already notched one more win then it did all of last season. While no Cougar player averages in double figures in the scoring column, the balanced attack seems to benefit Washington State.
Pac-10 previewAfter a slew of early season contests, conference play finally opens up this week, allowing Pac-10 teams to meet one another at last. The Arizona schools open their conference season with a trip to the Bay Area to take on Stanford and California. Sun Devil standouts Melody Johnson and Amanda Levens will get their first conference tests, while Arizona will bring its strong offensive starting five to take on the likes of the Cardinal and the Golden Bears. UCLA and USC will both jaunt up to the rainy Northwest to take on Washington and Washington State. While USC would love to pick up a pair of wins early in the Pac-10 season, UCLA just hopes that the conference season is filled with fewer bumps than its first 11 games. Both the Huskies and the Cougars are aiming for some conference respect as past seasons in the Pac-10 have seen them at the bottom of the standings. Finishing out the conference openers, Nicole Funn and Felicia Ragland, fresh off double-double performances versus Boise State, hope to lead Oregon State in an upset over visiting No. 25 Oregon.
Maureen Mullen is a reporter for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper of Stanford University.
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