SAN JOSE, Calif. -- California didn't have an answer for Nicole Powell.

The Stanford forward scored 18 points and had nine rebounds in 25 minutes as the Cardinal (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today; No. 9 Associated Press) defeated California 60-35 in the quarterfinals of the Pacific-10 Conference tournament Saturday night.

''She's just so versatile we want to take advantage of her matchups anyway we can,'' Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said of Powell, who handled the ball often during the game. ''There's not very many players in the country who have Nicole's versatility.''

Azella Perryman added 12 points and Chelsea Trotter had 11 as the top-seeded Cardinal (24-4) won for the fifth time in six games.

''Stanford can rely on Nicole Powell,'' Cal coach Caren Horstmeyer said. ''She's extremely talented and very consistent.''

Leigh Gregory led California (10-19) with 10 rebounds, matching her career high, and nine points.

Cal played its second tournament game within 17 hours, after beating Arizona State 46-38 Friday.

Stanford, which won the regular-season title, took advantage of Cal's early shooting troubles to open a huge lead and VanDerveer substituted liberally.

''That was a tough turnaround for Cal,'' VanDerveer said. ''They played great defense last night and I think defense won the game for us tonight because we struggled shooting the ball.''

Gregory said she found it hard to maneuver against Stanford's interior defense.

''They were doubling- and sometimes triple-teaming us inside,'' she said. ''It was hard to get a good shot.''

Ten Stanford players saw at least 10 minutes of action in the game, and no one played more than 27. Stanford advances to the semifinals Sunday against No. 4 seed UCLA, which defeated Oregon 71-58.

''It was nice to play a lot of people and it was nice to rest a lot of people,'' VanDerveer said.

Second-seeded Washington, a 64-63 winner over Southern California, plays No. 3 seed Arizona in the other semifinal. The Wildcats beat Oregon State 70-56.

Stanford has beaten Cal five in a row and 20 of the past 21 meetings.

Cal lost by 24 at Stanford and by three in Berkeley during the regular season. The game Saturday was the first time the Bay Area rivals met on a neutral court in the 53-game history of the series.

''I looked up during warmups and saw a lot of people who traveled to San Jose to support us,'' said Trotter. ''It kind of felt like being home.''

The Cardinal opened a 47-22 lead nine minutes into the second half following a steal by Powell and a pinpoint pass to Trotter under the basket.

Cal missed 14 of its first 15 shots, many of them within three feet of the basket, and fell behind 19-2 in the first 10 minutes of the contest.

''Stanford was extremely prepared,'' said Horstmeyer. ''We never had any good open looks. We were just shooting over the basket.''

The Bears -- who made five of 27 shots (.185) in the first half -- rallied but could never get closer than 13 points. Cal shot 22 percent for the game, a season low for a Stanford opponent.

Stanford led 29-14 at halftime.