The Stanford women’s basketball team heads into weekend play ranked third in the Pac-12, the first time in seven seasons that the Card fail to lead the conference, after Cal broke its 81-game conference winning streak on Tuesday. A lot of weight is being placed on these two upcoming games as the Card (14-2, 3-1 Pac-12) looks to redeem itself against the only teams left undefeated in the conference — UCLA (13-2, 4-0) and USC (7-8, 4-0).
The Stanford women’s basketball team came through a tight first half at lunchtime yesterday to soundly defeat UCLA 82-59 and finish up a home sweep of the Southern California schools.
First the coaches, and now the media, have chosen the No. 5 Stanford women’s basketball team to capture its 11th consecutive conference title in the inaugural Pac-12 season. In the Preseason Media Poll, released by the conference on Tuesday, the Cardinal received all 11 first-place votes for 131 total points.
The Bruins, previously undefeated in Pac-10 play, came in riding high after dismantling the Oregon schools last weekend, but the Cardinal proved that the road to the Pac-10 title will go through Maples once again in 2011
Facing what may be its toughest obstacle to that goal, the No. 4 Cardinal (14-2, 5-0 Pac-10) battles for the outright conference lead as it hosts a vastly improved UCLA team tonight. The Bruins (15-1, 5-0) own the conference’s only other undefeated record and are hot off a sweep of the Oregon schools, clocking in with the nation’s No. 8 overall ranking…