UCLA’s Martin Is No Lemon

UCLA’s Maylana Martin, attributing it all to a pregame snack of lemon bars, scored 26 points in the second half Saturday night, finished with 38 points and 18 rebounds, and the Bruins recorded an 82-64 victory over USC.

The Trojans, playing before 1,017 at USC’s Lyon Center, led virtually the entire first half, shackling UCLA with some inspired defensive basketball. But Martin, the 6-3 junior from Perris who is the Pacific 10 Conference’s leading scorer, took over the game midway through the second half and blew USC out of its own gym.

She spearheaded a 48-28 second-half domination by UCLA (12-2, 20-6), getting nearly all the key baskets inside as UCLA began pulling away after halftime. The win lifted UCLA into a tie for the conference lead with Oregon, which plays Arizona today.

The win seemed to snap UCLA out of a four-game funk, and Coach Kathy Olivier attributed it to Martin.

“May’s now played two weeks without missing a practice and she’s stronger now,” she said. “I’ve never seen her as hungry as she was tonight, she wanted the ball, every time down.”

Her teammates were quick to oblige, with Erica Gomez and Melanie Pearson combining for seven assists.

Martin’s 38 points was a career high. She also had 18 rebounds against North Carolina in November.

Injury-riddled USC (3-11, 7-16) played UCLA step-for-step until its fuel tank began going dry midway through the second half, and UCLA’s running game kicked in.

UCLA’s LaCresha Flannigan first caught and then passed USC with two fastbreak layups that gave the Bruins a 42-40 lead at 17:04.

USC never regained the lead, slowly slipping away to 52-46, 61-51 and then Martin, with 5:11 to go, seemed to clinch it with a tough shot inside for a 69-53 lead.

When Gomez made a 40-foot bounce pass to Flannigan on a breakaway, it was 72-53 with four minutes left.

Martin, who sat out four games earlier in the season because of severe headaches, munched another lemon bar afterward.

“I had a slight headache, but I could block it out during the game,” she said. “It was the lemon bars. They’re great.

“I feel like we’re coming back. I felt that old spark out there tonight, not like we were the last few games.”

UCLA was blown out at Oregon, 107-79, then lost at home to Stanford before beating California last week.

The victory gave UCLA a second consecutive 20-win season.

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Women’s Basketball Note

At Portland, Ore., sophomore guard Rasheeda Clark scored a team-high 15 points, all in the second half, to lead Pepperdine (19-7, 11-3 in West Coast Conference) to a 70-62 victory over Portland and a share of its first WCC championship.