Women’s Basketball : UCLA and USC in Washington for Key Games

Freshman forward Sandra VanEmbricqs is expected to play tonight for the first time in 12 games when the UCLA women’s basketball team meets Washington in a Pacific 10 Conference game in Seattle.

VanEmbricqs averaged 9.6 points a game and a team-leading 8.4 rebounds through the first five games, when the Bruins went 4-1. But since she went out with a strained left knee, UCLA has gone 7-5.

Washington, the Pac-10 co-leader with USC at 6-1, is 14-3 overall and has won 36 straight regular-season games at home. The Bruins (11-6 and 4-3) were the last team to beat the Huskies in Seattle, in the 1984-85 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament.

USC, with Cherie Nelson leading the conference in scoring and rebounding, will play at Washington State tonight. The 15th-ranked Trojans, who won the only previous meeting between the teams, in 1982, are 12-5 and 6-1. The Cougars are 7-9 and 0-7.

A win by Washington and USC would set up a showdown for the Pac-10 lead Saturday in Seattle. The teams will play again March 5 at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Cal State Long Beach, coming off an impressive win Monday against the Trojans, resumes Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. play today at 5 p.m. against UC Santa Barbara (4-12 and 1-7) at Goleta. The 49ers (17-1 and 7-0) are ranked fifth in the nation by the Associated Press, but that poll was released before the USC game.