USC Stops Oregon, Sets Up Showdown With Stanford

With Tina Thompson and Kristin Clark making the decisive plays down the stretch Sunday, the USC women’s basketball team registered its fifth consecutive victory and set up a Pacific 10 Conference showdown game against Stanford.

The Trojans, 14-4 overall and 8-1 in Pac-10 play, defeated Oregon, the conference’s third-place team, 73-65. USC can tie Stanford (9-0, 21-1) for the Pac-10 lead when they meet Thursday night in Palo Alto.

Before 815 at Lyon Center, Clark and Thompson scored 16 points between them in the last 14 minutes.

Oregon trailed, 62-61, when Clark made a three-point shot, stole the ball and made a layup and a free throw for a 68-61 lead with 1:42 left.

Thompson and Clark each finished with 20 points, Thompson had 14 rebounds. Arianne Boyer had 20 for Oregon (13-5, 6-3).

The Trojans lost a home game to Stanford, 77-76, on Jan. 12. Can they win at Stanford?

“Why not?” said Thompson, a senior. “We beat Washington in Seattle [on Jan. 2] and that was the first time we’ve done that since I’ve been here.”

UCLA 77, Oregon State 54--Freshman center Janae Hubbard had 16 points and junior guard Tawana Grimes 12 as the Bruins ended a four-game losing streak before 3,025 at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA (9-9, 3-6) broke open the game by outscoring Oregon State, 8-2, to take a 37-28 halftime lead.

Tina Lelas led Oregon State (9-9, 3-6) with 13 points and 11 rebounds.