UCLA coasts past Washington State

Now comes the hard part for the UCLA women’s basketball team.

The Bruins, seeded seventh, face second-seeded and ninth-ranked Arizona State in the quarterfinals of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament today after rolling to a 72-58 victory Friday night over 10th-seeded Washington State.

Fifth-seeded USC, which earned a bye into the quarterfinals, plays fourth-seeded Washington tonight in the last of four games in HP Pavilion.

Arizona State, a winner by 40 and 11 points over UCLA during the regular season, is 26-3, has won its last seven games and has lost only to Stanford over the last 3 1/2 months.

Washington State (5-24), which last outscored UCLA in January 2001, was winless after Dec. 21, ending its season with 18 consecutive losses. The Cougars have lost their last 14 games against UCLA.

Still, UCLA (14-17) trailed at 18-17 before ending the half with an 18-6 run and maintaining a double-digit advantage throughout the second half.

“I think at the beginning we were a little nervous,” said UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier, whose team is the defending tournament champion but had lost its previous five games and six of seven. “The little run we had in the first half ignited us. We picked it up defensively, got some easy looks and kind of took off from there.”

Lindsey Pluimer led the Bruins with 15 points, and Noelle Quinn, the Bruins’ three-time all-conference guard, scored 14 in a season-low 28 minutes.

Quinn, whose point total enabled her to join former Stanford All-American Nicole Powell as the only Pac-10 players to accumulate 1,800 points, 800 rebounds and 400 assists, sat out the last 10 minutes.

Olivier was hopeful that a well-rested Quinn might be able to make a difference today against Arizona State.

“Obviously, they’re one of the best teams in the country,” Olivier said of the Sun Devils, “so we have to be at 100%. So it’s nice to be able to rest some people.”

Arizona 69, Oregon State 54 -- Ashley Whisonant’s 23 points led the Wildcats (11-20) past the Beavers (9-19) and into a quarterfinal matchup against top-seeded Stanford.