Bruins No Match for the Cardinal

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.

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.

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.

“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.”

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.