Squad must fill tall order to take out Stanford crew

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW vs. Friday 7 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion<<br>Radio-610 AM vs. Sunday 3 p.m. Pauley
Pavilion<<br>Radio-1150 AM

By Joshua Mason
Daily Bruin Reporter

The UCLA women’s basketball team (3-15, 2-5 Pac-10) will
face a daunting task tonight when they take on the Stanford
Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion.

The trouble begins with history. Stanford (10-7, 4-3) has played
convincingly well against the Bruin women in recent years, having
won 21 of the last 24 meetings between the teams. UCLA managed to
garner a 64-61 victory last season when they played at home, but
that was in the wake of a porous Stanford performance in which the
Cardinal finished the night shooting a season-low 35.3 percent from
the floor and 17.4 percent from three-point land.

Then there is the size factor. Of Stanford’s 11 players,
all stand above 6-feet tall. Six-foot-two UCLA center Malika
Leatham will have her hands full with Stanford’s center,
senior Carolyn Moos, who at 6-6, will have a big advantage in the
rebounding department. The Bruin that may be forced to step things
up on the rebounding end is forward Kristee Porter, whose deceptive
leaping ability certainly poses a greater inside presence than her
6-foot frame suggests.

“The tone we set on defense will probably be the key to
this game,” Porter said. “We just want to come in and
play controlled basketball. We need to crash the boards well and
run the game at our own tempo.”

“A big thing our players need to do in this game is stay
out of foul trouble, especially Kristee,” added head coach
Kathy Olivier, whose team was plagued with foul problems in their
two losses over the weekend to the Oregon schools. “We tend
to a better job of staying out of foul trouble when we play at
home.”

The most interesting matchup of the game, however, will likely
be at the point guard position.

There will be over a foot difference in height between
UCLA’s 5-foot-1 Natalie Nakase and Stanford’s 6-foot-2
freshman Nicole Powell at the point. How the Bruins and Cardinal
attack this mismatch may become the deciding factor in the
game.

Powell is Stanford’s top offensive weapon, averaging 13.6
points per contest. She also leads the conference in rebounding
(8.4 per game) and is fourth in the Pac-10 with 4.4 assists per
game.

Nakase’s most integral role for UCLA is her ability to
control the ball and open up big plays for teammate Michelle Greco,
who currently leads the conference in scoring average at 20.1
points. Though the likelihood of Nakase shutting down
Stanford’s top scoring threat will be a tall order to fill,
the Bruins find favor on their side in the potential mismatch.

“Because of the size and the fact that (Powell) is not
even a true point guard, I think Natalie can pick her all
day,” Greco said.

The Bruins do find hope in the fact that Stanford has only won
one of six games on the road this season, and that they themselves
return home to Pauley Pavilion, a place where they managed to win
three games this season. In contrast, they have yet to win a game
on the road.

“I’m really glad we’re at home,” Olivier
said. “We feel a lot more comfortable here, and our young
team has a lot more confidence with a home crowd.

“Our team is one that has really improved, and then we go
on the road in the Pac-10 and we take two steps back. This is our
chance to prove again that we’ve gotten better.”

The Bruins will continue their home-court advantage on Sunday
against Cal at 3 p.m.