Kaczmarski Leads UCLA to Victory

Freshman Nicole Kaczmarski made a school-record seven three-point baskets to score her career-high 21 points that helped UCLA remain in contention for an NCAA tournament bid in a 96-86 victory over Washington State Thursday night at Pullman, Wash.

UCLA, 17-11 overall and 11-6 in the Pacific 10, made 70.4% of its shots in the first half to take a 52-43 halftime lead. Maylana Martin scored 15 of her game-high 22 points in the first half.

After Washington State (4-23, 1-16) pulled within 70-64 with eight minutes remaining, Kaczmarski made a three-point shot to start a decisive 8-0 run for UCLA. Kaczmarski took eight three-point shots and missed on five two-point attempts.

Janae Hubbard was one of five double-figure scorers for UCLA with 12 points. Jen Kerns had 20 points for Washington State, which had four double-figure scorers.

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USC scored 22 points in overtime in an 88-76 victory over Washington at Seattle.

The difference in overtime was free throws as USC (14-13, 9-8) made 10 of 15 attempts while Washington (8-21, 4-13) was 0 for 3.

Tiffany Elmore had 21 points, and Tiffany Washington had 13 points and 14 rebounds for USC. Loree Payne had 28 points for Washington

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In games involving nationally ranked teams: Takeisha Lewis had 15 points and 11 rebounds as No. 3 Louisiana Tech (26-2) was a 95-51 winner over South Alabama (8-21) in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt tournament at Bowling Green, Ky. . . . JoRuth Woods scored 17 points as unranked Texas--the sixth-seeded team in the Big 12 tournament--was a 68-50 winner over No. 6 (and top-seeded) Texas Tech (21-11) at Kansas City, Mo. Texas advanced to Saturday’s championship game against Iowa State (24-5)--an 85-48 winner over Nebraska (18-12). . . . Hamchetou Maiga scored 20 points for No. 14 Old Dominion (25-4) in a 66-61 victory over George Mason (10-19) in the Colonial Athletic Assn. quarterfinals. Old Dominion has won 100 consecutive games against conference opponents. . . . Reshea Bristol and Monika Crank--held to two baskets between them in the first half--scored 13 points apiece in the second half at Palo Alto to lead No. 22 Arizona (23-6, 12-5 in the Pacific 10) to a 79-72 victory over Stanford (19-8, 12-5).