Tennessee Slips Past Stanford in Overtime

It took a half, but once Tennessee figured out how to fluster Stanford’s Nicole Powell, the No. 2-ranked Lady Vols rallied to defeat the No. 6 Cardinal in overtime, 70-66, Sunday at Palo Alto.

Powell finished with 32 points and 16 rebounds for Stanford (6-1) but made only seven of 25 field goal attempts after halftime, including missing her final 10 shots in regulation.

“It’s something I’ve been looking forward to since I was 10 -- beating Tennessee,” Powell said. “We’ve just got to learn from this.... Honestly, I think I forced a couple shots in the last few minutes of regulation. I should hit those shots.”

Shanna Zolman scored five of her 18 points in overtime for Tennessee (5-0), which trailed by 11 at halftime. The Lady Vols had 17 offensive rebounds and forced 20 turnovers by the Cardinal. Tennessee’s LaToya Davis helped put the game into overtime when she stole the ball at midcourt from Kelley Suminski and tied the score, at 56-56, with 20 seconds left. Then Powell went the length of the court but missed.

“In the first half, they shared the basketball,” Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt said of Stanford. “Then they went to Nicole in the second and everybody expected her to step up and make plays. She obviously had a heavy load to carry.”

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Florida 75, No. 15 UC Santa Barbara 49 -- Vanessa Hayden’s 31 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocked shots at Gainesville, Fla., helped the Gators (6-2) end a 13-game losing streak against ranked opponents.

Two free throws by April McDivitt with 7:29 left pulled the Gauchos to within nine points, at 55-46, but Florida closed the game with a 20-3 run, during which the Gauchos (4-2) missed nine of 10 shots. Kristen Mann had 15 points for Santa Barbara (4-2), which was outrebounded, 52-27.

In other top 25 games:

At Durham, N.C., Mistie Bass had 21 points to lead No. 3 Duke (6-1) to a 90-36 victory over Tulsa (3-3).... At Austin, Texas, Kala Bowers scored 17 of her 22 points in the second half to carry No. 5 Texas (8-1) to a 91-50 victory over North Texas (3-4).... At State College Pa., Kelly Mazzante of No. 7 Penn State (7-1) scored 31 points in 30 minutes of a 96-44 victory over Pittsburgh (1-4).... At Manhattan, Kan., No. 11 Kansas State (7-2) defeated Creighton (3-4), 94-60.... At Ruston, La., Trina Frierson had 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 12 Louisiana Tech (6-1) to a 94-65 victory over Mississippi State (2-4).... At Piscataway, N.J., Rutgers (4-4) made 14 of 18 free throws during the final three minutes of a 73-65 victory over No. 19 Texas Christian (6-1).... At Auburn Ala., No. 24 Auburn (7-2) routed Prairie View A&M; (2-4), 100-48.