UCLA Trio Fuels Rout of Oregon State

UCLA played its best game at the same time that Oregon State played its worst, and the Bruins cruised to a 91-58 victory in Pacific 10 Conference play Saturday before 2,094 at Pauley Pavilion.

A trio of Bruins outscored Oregon State by themselves. Freshman forward Noelle Quinn established career highs with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Nikki Blue had 23 points and six assists, and Lisa Willis had 21.

It was the most points the Bruins have scored in a game this season, and their most lopsided victory since defeating Washington State 93-51 on Jan. 5, 2003. UCLA improved to 10-10 overall and 5-6 in the conference.

“After Thursday’s [61-55 loss to Oregon], I knew they didn’t feel good about themselves,” said UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier, when asked about her team’s big day.

“We said today we were going to play with energy, regardless of what happens. That’s what we did, and good things happened.”

On the flip side, it was the most points scored against Oregon State (11-9, 5-6) this season, and it was the Beavers’ worst loss since getting blown out by USC, 87-44, last March 1. Guard Shannon Howell, with 14 points, was the only Oregon State player in double figures.

It was a hard game for Coach Judy Spoelstra to watch, especially coming off the solid game Oregon State played Thursday in defeating USC

“We’re the Jekyll-and-Hyde team,” Spoelstra said. “We were probably as night-and-day as UCLA was on Thursday. It’s the way the conference is. There are times teams will be like this.”

Saturday belonged to the Bruins from the opening tap. UCLA raced out to a 14-2 lead in the first eight minutes and kept building it up until it was 40-17 at halftime.

The Bruins reached their largest advantage, 65-30, on a 17-footer by Quinn with 10:34 left.

USC 71, Oregon 56 -- Rometra Craig scored 18 points and Jamie Funn had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Trojans in the Pac-10 victory in front of 4,078 at the Sports Arena.

Craig also led USC (11-8, 8-3) with five assists.

USC led by only a point at halftime, 35-34, but broke the game open in the second half, shooting 50% from behind the three-point line and outscoring Oregon, 36-22.

Brandi Davis led all scorers with 19 points for Oregon (11-10, 3-8). Eleanor Haring had 14.

The Trojans outrebounded the Ducks, 44-34.

Oregon shot only 57% from the free-throw line, to USC’s 78%.

Ebony Hoffman had 12 points on five-for-eight shooting from the field for USC.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.