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Bruins No Match for the Cardinal

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Just a weekend ago, the UCLA women’s basketball team was one win from putting three games between itself and the rest of the Pacific 10 Conference.

A fond, wistful memory.

The Bruins, bombarded by a long-range shooting barrage by Stanford, were routed by the Cardinal, 83-68, Thursday night. It was UCLA’s second consecutive loss and cost the Bruins sole possession of first place in the Pac-10.

Stanford (13-5, 6-2) gained a first-place tie with UCLA (12-6, 6-2). Arizona and Oregon, each 5-2, play tonight.

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The Cardinal’s first three baskets were from three-point range. When Stanford had a 22-16 lead, it had made six three-point shots.

Stanford, playing before 4,252 at Maples Pavilion, entered the game with the top two three-point shooters in the conference, freshman Jamie Carey (47.7%) and sophomore Lauren St. Clair (47%). St. Clair was the show-stopper Thursday.

She made all five of her three-point attempts, and her fifth, with 10:18 to play, gave the Cardinal a 60-42 lead.

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Stanford also shut down UCLA senior All-American center Maylana Martin, who had one point in a foul-plagued 28 minutes. Martin had only two attempts from the field while being guarded by 6-7 Cori Enghusen and 6-6 Carolyn Moos. Martin had four fouls with 14:14 to play.

The Bruins were short-handed in the backcourt. Senior point guard Erica Gomez sprained her right ankle in practice Tuesday, and Michelle Greco started in her place. Greco responded with a career-high 26 points. Gomez, limping noticeably, played only seven minutes and didn’t score.

Stanford’s Bethany Donaphin, a 6-2 sophomore, was seven of 10 from the field, had nine rebounds and led Stanford with 21 points.

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“They were tired [in the second half] and we capitalized on that,” Donaphin said.

Stanford built on its 36-29 halftime lead in the second half on shots by Carey and St. Clair, then, with Martin and 6-4 Janae Hubbard (two points) playing with four fouls, went inside. Donaphin scored inside three times in the last four minutes.

The Cardinal pushed the advantage to 20 points, 62-42, behind senior point guard Milena Flores.

She fired a 70-foot pass to Donaphin for a fast break basket and a 60-42 lead with 12:11 left, then followed with a 50-footer to Moos for another breakaway and the 62-42 margin.

“Stanford did a great job with their post defense tonight,” UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier said. “We need to get our post players better looks than they got tonight. I mean, when [Martin] goes 0 for 2, that says a lot about our game tonight.

“This is a tough conference, and you really need to steal a game or two on the road. I think the first and second teams at the end could have four or more losses.”

Said Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer: “I really think our post defense was the difference. It was really a great defensive effort for us. When we play defense like that, we’re successful.”

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UCLA, ranked 15th after the Oregon loss, will see its rating tumble this week.

When in the top 25, the Cardinal is 1-3. When not, Stanford is 12-2.

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