UCLA women defeat USC in Pac-10 semifinals

Both teams were playing for their seasons. UCLA guaranteed an extension, USC hopes it didn’t get laid off.

The Bruins beat their cross-town rival, 59-53, Saturday at the Galen Center in the semifinal of the State Farm Pac-10 women’s tournament, advancing to today’s title game against top-seeded Stanford.

It will be UCLA’s second appearance in the title game since the tournament started in 2002.

The other came in 2006, also against Stanford, and the Bruins won that one in overtime.

Just advancing to that game almost cements the chances UCLA (24-7) gets an NCAA tournament bid. Still, said UCLA forward Jasmine Dixon, “We prepare every day, hard, like every game is our last.”

That’s the question for USC, which finished the season with a 19-12 record, but the answer in that camp is very glass-half-full. “We really do have a good chance so I don’t have any doubts,” USC guard Ashley Corral said.

Said Trojans Coach Michael Cooper: “I hopefully don’t think our season is over with.”

Even UCLA Coach Nikki Caldwell lobbied for the archrivals: “‘SC could definitely be that third team they take out of the Pac-10.” Yet her team might have knocked them out of contention with a late KO in a tight game.

Markel Walker scored with 1:40 left to give UCLA a 55-53 lead. After a USC missed layup, Walker drove, missed her own layup attempt with 28 seconds left, but got the rebound. The Trojans were forced to foul and UCLA hung on. “We knew it was going to be a grind,” Caldwell said.

UCLA looked superior throughout with the inside duo of Dixon and Walker, who combined for 25 points and 20 rebounds. But USC hung around on the shooting touch of Corral, who had a team-high 15 points on five three-point jumpers.

Still, it was poor shooting that hurt USC the most. The Trojans missed 41 field goal attempts, including 19 from beyond the arc. “We got some good looks throughout the course of the game,” Cooper said. “We just couldn’t knock them down.”

UCLA lost both games to Stanford this season, but nearly beat the No. 2-ranked Cardinal (30-1) in Westwood, losing 65-61. Stanford has steamrollered through this tournament, winning each of its two games by 20 points, the latter a 64-44 demolition of California on Saturday to advance to its ninth straight title game.

Star center Jayne Appel, who has been hobbled by a sprained right ankle, played 19 minutes (seven points, two rebounds) and Stanford Coach Tara Vanderveer said the Pac-10’s all-time leading rebounder would start against UCLA.

The Cardinal has won six of the eight tournament titles since the tournament’s inception in 2002, but has a new motivation today: winning it with a perfect league record. “We’re trying to get our little shot at Pac-10 history,” Vanderveer said.

UCLA’s motivation is different. “We need this championship,” said guard Darxia Morris, who led the Bruins with 16 points.” I think we can do it. And we will.”

baxter.holmes

@latimes.com