No Martin, No Sweat for UCLA

UCLA, playing without Pacific 10 Conference scoring leader Maylana Martin, stumbled through an error-prone first half Thursday night, then buried Washington, 90-53, after exploding for a 58-19 second half.

The eighth-ranked Bruins, 16-4 overall and 8-0 in the Pac-10, easily won their ninth in a row--their longest winning streak in 18 years--before 786 at Pauley Pavilion.

But UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier is becoming increasingly concerned about Martin, plagued for more than a month by severe headaches.

The 6-foot-3 junior forward underwent afternoon-long tests at the UCLA Medical Center on Thursday, reported to Olivier an hour before the game and was sent home for rest by her coach.

“She’s worried, I could tell, but she’s a real team player,” Olivier said afterward, talking about a pregame meeting with Martin.

“She looked me in the eye and said: ‘You don’t need me to beat this team.’ ”

Martin has been plagued by back pain for more than a year, but a sinus infection in December left her with headaches that remain.

When asked if Martin would play Saturday against Washington State, Oliver said: “It doesn’t look like it.”

UCLA certainly didn’t need her in the second half against Washington.

UCLA toughened up its defense and the result was a blizzard of second-half turnovers and 17% shooting by the Huskies.

Erica Gomez guarded Washington’s all-time leading scorer, Jamie Redd, for most of the game and Redd--whose 10 points pushed her past former UCLA star Natalie Williams on the Pac-10’s all-time scoring list and into 10th place--wasn’t a factor.

She made two of 15 shots against Gomez and an assortment of UCLA zones. Teammate Amber Hall, who came in as the Pac-10’s only player averaging double figures in points and rebounds, had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Leading UCLA’s second-half surge, along with Gomez, were Marie Philman and LaCresha Flannigan, who had 24 points each.

UCLA had two scorching runs after halftime, the first coming when the Bruins raced from a 34-32 intermission deficit to a 42-34 lead with 16:52 left.

The Bruins hit a dry spell, during which Janae Hubbard and Carly Funicello picked up their third fouls, then turned up the tempo again, pretty much putting Washington away when they went from 46-39 to 57-42 in 3 1/2 minutes.

The major plays in that burst were a three-point basket by Flannigan and a Philman layup on the play of the night, a 25-foot rocket assist from Gomez.

From 57-44, the Bruins went to 68-44, sparked by a Flannigan layup off a fastbreak assist from Philman, a three-point basket by Melanie Pearson and a steal and layup by Flannigan.

“When our defense is working right, we’re a very good basketball team,” Olivier said.

Redd seemed disgusted with her team’s 31 turnovers and overall 27% shooting.

“UCLA’s a great team but we hurt ourselves by getting into a lot of one-on-one situations and just handing the ball over to them,” she said.

Washington State 65, USC 58--Tricia Lamb scored 18 points to help the Cougars (9-8, 3-5) defeat the Trojans (6-11, 2-6) before 236 at the Lyon Center.

The difference was a 43-36 edge in the second half after a 22-22 halftime tie.

Tiffany Washington led USC with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Women’s Notes

The road to the women’s March 26-28 Final Four at San Jose goes through the Sports Arena, where the NCAA West Regional will be held March 20-22. USC is the host school.