Women’s Basketball Roundup : Trojans Rally to Beat Huskies

Cherie Nelson scored 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the USC women’s basketball team to a come-from-behind 77-74 victory over Washington Saturday night in the USC campus gym.

The Trojans trailed by 18, 54-36, with 16:15 left to play but took the lead for good, 69-68, when Karon Howell scored on a layin after a steal with 4:52 remaining.

The Trojans and Huskies aretied for second place in the Pacific 10. USC is 18-6 and 12-2, and Washington is 20-4 and 12-2.

USC, after playing California Thursday night at the Sports Arena, will play first-place Stanford next Saturday night in the campus gym. Stanford is 14-1 in Pac-10 games after defeating Oregon, 65-57, Saturday night.

USC led, 73-68, with 2:20 left, but Washington came back to within one at 75-74. But USC’s Kalen Wright scored two free throws with 10 seconds left.

UCLA 74, Washington St. 60--Althea Ford had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Bruins (16-10, 9-5) over the visiting Cougars (9-15, 4-10). Lynne Long scored 14 for Washington State.

The Bruins’ next game will be against Stanford Friday night at UCLA.

CS Long Beach 98, Pacific 57--Dana Wilkerson scored 18 points to lead the 12th-ranked 49er women over Pacific in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game at Stockton.

Angelique Lee had 16 points and 9 rebounds as Long Beach (19-5, 15-0) clinched its third straight PCAA title.

Gretchen Meinhardt scored 18 points for Pacific (4-12, 9-16).