University of Oregon
Stanford
Ducks Pull Upset of No. 10 Stanford, 67-66
02/26/04 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Corrie Mizusawa's layup with 8.2 seconds left gave Oregon a 67-66 victory Thursday night over 10th-ranked Stanford, ending the Ducks' six-game losing streak against the Cardinal.
Mizusawa hit a pair of free throws to pull the Ducks (13-14, 5-12 Pac-10) to 66-65 with 21.8 seconds left. Stanford's Nicole Powell missed a free throw before Mizusawa raced down the court for her game-winning basket.
Powell missed her final shot as time ran out.
"I'm glad Corrie took the shot," Oregon coach Bev Smith said. "It was a great shot. She almost had a double-double, and if she would have passed it on that shot she probably would have had that double-double. She did a great job offensively and defensively tonight. She took the brace off tonight and just went for it."
Freshman Eleanor Haring led Oregon with a career-high 18 points and seven rebounds. Mizusawa finished with 13 points and nine assists.
"I was just being aggressive and I thought I had a step on her (Susan Borchardt)," Mizusawa said. "I had a wide open lane when I went past her, so I just put it up."
Powell, who started cold and sat out for eight minutes early in the game, had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Stanford (20-6, 13-4), which lost for the first time in four games. Kelley Suminski had 19 points.
"I thought Oregon played a great game," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They were very aggressive. We got in trouble early I think. They hit eight three's in the first half, and our defense was real passive. They have a great crowd, and a great tradition here. I give Bev and her team a lot of credit for their preparation and execution."
Oregon led by as many as 10 points early and went into the half with the game tied at 33. But the Cardinal pulled ahead 47-39 on Powell's 3-pointer.
The Ducks never let the game get too far out of reach, and pulled to 56-55 on Andrea Bills' layup. Kayla Steen missed a free throw that would have tied it, and Powell came back with six straight points to make it 62-55.
But the tenacious Ducks -- who had lost three straight -- kept up, and Powell's key misses in the final minute hurt the Cardinal in the end.
"(We) dedicate this to the people of Mac," Smith said. "They make it so special and we wanted to be there for them. They've been with us through our ups and downs. We just wanted to play a basketball game that was a winning effort, where every possession, every rebound and every loose ball we went after and we'd see where that took us. We went at it with a winning effort and ended up with a great win."
Oregon took a 13-3 lead after three straight 3-pointers from Haring, Kayla Steen and Mizusawa.
Stanford narrowed it to 20-19 on Susan Borchardt's 3-pointer, then took a 24-20 lead on Kristen Newlin's basket and Suminski's 3-pointer.
Powell inexplicably played less than three of the opening 10 minutes, but returned as Stanford took over. Chelsea Trotter scored off Powell's well-placed bounce pass under the basket to make it 28-23 for the Cardinal.
Powell played 12 minutes of the first half, scoring just two points.
"(Kedzie Gunderson) was fired up," Smith said of her starting forward, who primarily guarded Powell. "She always gets up for big games and when she has a tough match-up like tonight in Nicole Powell, who is a great player. Offensively, tonight Kedzie was almost perfect and that came from staying late and shooting around. But she was our defensive stopper tonight."
The Ducks pulled to 33-32 on Brandi Davis' 3-pointer, then tied it at 33 just before the break on Yadili Okwumabua's free throw.
