USC’s Thompson, Clark Beat Back Cal Rally to Win

Tina Thompson and Michelle Campbell each scored 17 points and USC overcame a late rally to beat California, 66-63, on Saturday at Berkeley.

Adrian Williams added 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Trojans, 15-5 overall and 8-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Patrycja Czepiec and Jennie Leander each scored 20 points for the Bears, who lost their sixth in a row.

Cal (6-14, 2-9) took a 61-59 lead with 2:50 to play when Czepiec, held to two points in the first half, made a three-point basket. Leander added a basket a minute later to increase the Bear lead to 63-59.

A three-point shot from Trojan guard Kristin Clark sliced the lead to 63-62 with 1:25 to play, and Thompson, who was in foul trouble most of the second half, got inside to give the Trojans a 64-63 edge with 44 seconds left.

Thompson, who leads the Pac-10 in scoring with a 22.6-point average and is second in rebounding at 10.8, was limited to three rebounds.

No. 3 Stanford 98, UCLA 68--Kate Starbird scored 29 points and the Cardinal beat defeated the Bruins to extend its home-court winning streak to 44, the longest active streak in women’s Division I basketball.

The second half was played without a functioning scoreboard, though that was just as well for the Bruins (10-10, 4-7 Pac-10), who trailed by double digits for most of the game and lost for the seventh consecutive time to Stanford (23-1, 11-0).

The Cardinal’s only loss was at No. 2 Old Dominion on Dec. 17.

Technicians worked to fix the scoreboard, but after about a 10-minute delay it was decided to resume play.

Jamila Wideman added 16 points and 10 assists and Olympia Scott had 15 points for Stanford, which also has won 38 consecutive conference games. The Cardinal, which also got 13 points and 11 rebounds from Vanessa Nygaard, hasn’t lost to a Pac-10 opponent since a 78-73 defeat against Oregon State on Feb. 4, 1995.

Melanie Pearson’s 16 points led UCLA; Maylana Martin had 14.