Bruins Lose and Hope for Best

UCLA couldn’t figure out how to beat Arizona State this season. And the Sun Devils were not the team the Bruins needed to see as their first opponent in the Pacific 10 Conference women’s basketball tour- nament.

But third-seeded Arizona State did show up Saturday to break the sixth-seeded Bruins’ hearts a third time, 73-71. Now UCLA (16-12), which has lost three in a row and five of six, can only hope the Sun Devils didn’t shatter its NCAA hopes as well.

“We started out the season with some great wins,” UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier said. “We had a huge injury to our team [leading scorer and rebounder Noelle Quinn] and we continued to battle through that injury. I thought today we battled and left everything on the floor. And that’s all you can ask.”

Arizona State (21-8), which should have an NCAA berth locked up, got to the conference semifinals by surviving a career-high 36 points by UCLA’s Nikki Blue and harassing the Bruin guard just enough defensively to keep her from making a tying shot with a second to play.

“I always feel the first game is the hardest in the Pac-10 tournament and NCAAs,” Sun Devil Coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “And I think we felt the emotion and the pressure of the situation; we weren’t in sync. But we did settle down.”

UCLA did all it could to set a defensive tone early, employing a 2-3 zone that collapsed whenever the ball went inside and trying to make the Sun Devils use up the clock.

But the Sun Devils stayed patient, making 12 of 25 shots to capture the halftime lead, 35-33. And the Bruins didn’t get balanced production; of the nine players Olivier used in the half, only Blue (18 points), Lisa Willis (10) and Lindsey Pluimer (five) scored.

The trend continued in the second half. Willis, who had 25, and Blue kept UCLA in the game. But Pluimer made only one basket in the second half. The only other Bruin to score was Lauren Pederson, who had three points.

That was not enough to offset the more balanced scoring of Arizona State, which got points from nine players. Kristen Kovesdy had 19 points, 15 in the second half.

“It’s sad if this is how we go out,” Olivier said.

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No. 2 Stanford 81, California 40 -- The top-seeded Cardinal (27-2) roared to a 41-20 halftime lead and cruised into the semifinals for the fourth straight year. It was Stanford’s 18th consecutive win, and its 11th straight over Cal (10-18). All 10 Stanford players who got in the game scored, led by Susan King Borchardt with 14 points.

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Oregon 64, Washington 50 -- The second-seeded Ducks (20-8) moved on to face Arizona State in the semifinals and probably secured an NCAA at-large berth as well.

“Although I felt we should have gotten in with a 19-8 record because the league is tough, I think this seals the deal,” Oregon Coach Bev Smith said.

Cathrine Kraayeveld, who scored 20 points, helped Oregon pull away from the Huskies (14-16) in the final 10 minutes of the second half. The Ducks shot only 40% (24 for 60) but dominated the boards (54-35) and held Washington to 30% shooting (19 for 63).

Cameo Hicks led Washington with 17 points.