Lackluster UCLA Prevails; USC Nearly Stuns Stanford

With time fading fast in the women’s Pacific 10 basketball race, UCLA finds itself in a funk.

The Bruins produced another stinker Sunday, but this time they won, using all their weapons in the second half to stave off cellar-dweller Cal, 76-61, before 1,549 at Pauley Pavilion.

The victory, two days after the Bruins had fallen into second place in the conference, lifted UCLA (19-6) back into a tie for first in the Pac-10 with Oregon at 11-2. On Saturday, the Bruins must go across town to meet newly energized USC.

UCLA will need a better effort than it got Sunday when Cal (2-10, 8-13) shot only 26% from the floor but held the Bruins to no field goals in the last 7:44 of the first half and trailed only 34-28 at halftime.

In the second half, UCLA maintained an eight- to 12-point cushion but didn’t put Cal away until Janae Hubbard, Michelle Greco and LaCresha Flannigan combined to produce a 63-47 lead with 5:20 left.

As was the case Friday in its 87-84 loss to Stanford, UCLA was flat, seemingly uninspired, and even its bench players lacked the animation its last two opponents have shown.

“We need to change that, to get our energy level back to what we had . . . earlier in the season,” said Maylana Martin, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds after playing only five first-half minutes because of foul trouble.

Coach Kathy Olivier called it “February Blues.”

“A friend in the Midwest sent me a clipping about teams with ‘February Blues,’ teams that play tough pre-conference schedules like we did, then hit a lull in February,” she said.

UCLA lost to Connecticut (No. 4 at the time) and Tennessee (No. 1) in before the conference season began, and the Bruins scored victories on the road against ranked foes such as Nebraska (No. 24) and North Carolina (No. 5).

UCLA’s defense was the difference Sunday. It held three Cal players who played 21 or more minutes to a combined seven-for-37 shooting, including top scorer Paige Bowie, who was three for 17.

“What Cal did was try to trap us a lot defensively, and that’s good because that’s what SC will do Saturday,” Olivier said.

If you had to miss one UCLA game this season, this was it. The Bruins had 29 turnovers, the most since they had 30 against Notre Dame in November. Cal turned it over 26 times. There were 64 free throws.

Martin, who had been bothered by migraines said she had another headache Sunday, but she seemed to make a difference in UCLA’s two second-half runs, sparking her team as it moved out to a 50-41 lead midway through the half and supplying key rebounds in the run to 63-47.

“The headaches are still there, but with the medication I’m taking, they’re not as bad as before,” Martin said.

*

Stanford senior Regan Freuen made a layup with 22 seconds remaining to defeat USC, 60-59, at the Lyon Center.

USC, which trailed for the first 30 minutes of the game, led by as much as 56-51 in the final minutes and had a 59-58 edge with 39 seconds left after Adrain Williams’ two free throws. But, after Freuen’s layup, USC missed its final shot before the buzzer.

USC’s Tashara Carter had a game-high 17 points and seven rebounds, and Williams had 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.