Martin, UCLA Women Feeling Much Better

Maylana Martin has her starting job back and hopes now to resume what she was doing until mid-January--creating headaches for the rest of the Pacific 10 Conference.

In her second game back after missing three because of migraine headaches, she scored 17 points in 29 minutes to spark UCLA to an easy 90-68 victory over Oregon State on Saturday before 1,858 at Gill Coliseum.

She didn’t pronounce herself all the way back--she tired in each half and missed several easy shots--but said afterward she’s on the mend.

Martin recently had undergone several days of tests at UCLA Medical Center to determine the cause of the headaches, originally believed to be related to a sinus infection.

“They [doctors] decided my headaches were a reaction to an epidural cortisone injection I’d taken for back pain,” she said. “But I’m on a medication now that I take three times a day and it really masks the headaches.

“I was fine during this game, but I started getting [a headache] toward the end, so I just took more medication.”

The 6-foot-3 junior center, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, lost 10 pounds during her migraine bouts and showed fatigue as a substitute in Thursday’s 106-79 loss at Oregon.

“When I missed those layups and those easy jump shots were coming up short, I was just tired,” she said. “That’s from not playing for two weeks.”

UCLA, 18-5 overall and 10-1 in conference, outrebounded smaller Oregon State by only six, 42-36, and Bruin Coach Kathy Olivier wasn’t happy the Beavers (11-9, 3-8) had 13 offensive rebounds.

“We just need to make a commitment to blocking out underneath, because [Friday’s opponent] Stanford is really going to come after us underneath,” she said.

“Janae [Hubbard] worries so much about getting in foul trouble, she gets tentative in there.

“One thing I thought we did well today was work the ball around, look for that one extra pass and get the easy assist basket. We’re a much better team when we do that.”

Hubbard, Martin’s 6-4 running mate in the post, had 12 points and 11 rebounds but, like Martin, missed several easy shots.

Erica Gomez, the assist leader in the conference, had only one against Oregon as the Ducks ended the Bruins’ 10-game winning streak. She had nine Saturday.

Oregon 73, USC 61--The Ducks finished with a 9-3 run and handed the Trojans their seventh loss in a row at Eugene, Ore.

Oregon (18-4, 9-2) won despite committing 27 turnovers, but outrebounded USC (6-14, 2-9), 44-24.