USC Drops Oregon Out of Pacific 10 Lead, 69-63

Danielle Golay scored 19 points and had eight rebounds to lead USC to a 69-63 victory over Pacific 10 Conference-leading Oregon Saturday night at Eugene, Ore.

The loss dropped Oregon (20-7, 11-4 in the Pac-10) out of first place, with Stanford (18-6, 11-3) taking over the lead with a 76-46 victory over Washington earlier in the day.

USC (12-12, 7-7) ended a winning streak at six games for Oregon, which suffered lost for only the second time at home. Oregon also lost to USC on Jan. 27.

Golay scored 11 points in the second half to help USC rally from a 36-33 half-time deficit.

USC turned up the defensive pressure in holding Oregon to only two field goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half. A 19-6 run gave USC a 52-42 lead with 9:28 left.

Oregon was able to get within 62-59 on a basket by Shaquala Williams, who had a game-high 22 points, but USC made seven of eight free throws to secure the victory.

Tashara Carter had 10 points and five rebounds for USC.

*

Shea Ralph scored 17 points, and Sue Bird had nine over the final three minutes as No. 1 Connecticut beat No. 5 Notre Dame, 77-59, at Hartford, Conn., to clinch its seventh consecutive Big East regular-season title. The loss ended a winning streak at 20 games for Notre Dame (24-3, 15-1). Connecticut (26-1, 15-0) has 11 consecutive victories over Notre Dame. . . . Betty Lennox and Tamicha Jackson scored 20 points each and No. 4 Louisiana Tech scored the first 20 points of the game in a 92-48 victory at Denver. It was the 13th win in a row for Louisiana Tech (23-2, 14-0 in the Sun Belt). Denver is 16-8 and 10-4 . . . Amber Tarr scored 22 points in No. 7 Texas Tech’s 83-75 victory over Oklahoma State at Stillwater, Okla. Melinda Pharies had 18 points for Texas Tech (23-3, 12-3 in the Big 12), while Jennifer Crow led Oklahoma State (13-14, 5-10) with 21. . . . Tammy Sutton-Brown scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half to lead No. 8 Rutgers (19-6, 11-4 in the Big East) to a 70-47 victory over St. John’s at New York. Giani Bowles led St. John’s (9-17, 4-11) with 14 points.

Angie Welle scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-10 shooting and Megan Taylor went six for seven on three-point attempts for No. 13 Iowa State in a 112-79 victory over Baylor at Ames, Iowa. Iowa State (21-5, 12-3 in the Big 12) made 16 of 22 three-point shots and shot 67% from the field. After going 22 seasons without scoring 100 points, the Cyclones have done it twice in the last three games. Monica Arnold scored 15 points for Baylor (7-18, 2-13). . . . Cal Bouchard scored 26 points as No. 17 Boston College was a 68-53 winner over West Virginia at Boston. Boston College (22-7, 11-4 in the Big East) has won 15 consecutive home games. Val Zona scored a career high 23 points for West Virginia (6-20, 1-14). . . . Lenae Williams scored 28 points and Jamie Lewis had 20 for DePaul in an 89-71 victory over No. 19 Marquette at Chicago. Williams was six for seven on three-point shots. DePaul (17-10, 10-6 C-USA) took a 49-29 halftime lead en route to ending a winning streak at eight for Marquette (22-5, 14-2 in Conference USA). . . . Reshea Bristol and Felecity Willis each scored 17 points as No. 23 Arizona won the first time in three games by turning back Arizona State, 72-61, at Tempe, Ariz. It was the 14th consecutive time that Arizona (21-5, 10-4 in the Pacific 10) has defeated Arizona State (13-10, 7-7). . . . Phylesha Whaley had 23 points and nine rebounds for No. 24 Oklahoma in an 88-69 victory over No. 25 Kansas at Norman, Okla. LaNeishea Caufield scored 22 points for Oklahoma (22-6, 12-3 in the Big 12), while Kansas (19-8, 10-5) got 19 points each from Jaclyn Johnson and Suzi Raymant.