Cheeks Drives USC to Victory

Jessica Cheeks’ layup with 3.9 seconds remaining gave USC a 60-58 victory over Oregon State on Saturday at Corvallis, Ore.

Cheeks drove past Juleen Smith and scored over Brina Chaney.

Ebony Hoffman scored 16 points, and Cheeks and Aisha Hollans each added 14 points for the Trojans (11-9, 7-4 in the Pac-10).

Leilani Estavan, who missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer, scored 16 points for Oregon State (11-10, 7-4).

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Oregon 76, UCLA 54--Shaquala Williams scored 16 of her 23 points in the second half for the Ducks (12-8, 7-4 in the Pac-10) at Eugene, Ore.

Natalie Nakase led the Bruins (5-14, 2-9) with 14 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

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TOP 25

No. 1 Connecticut 79, Boston College 56--Sue Bird had 23 points and Asjha Jones matched her career high with 21 points for Connecticut (22-0, 8-0 in the Big East) at Storrs, Conn.

They helped the Huskies recover from one of their worst shooting halves of the season. The Huskies shot 38% from the floor on 12-of-31 shooting, but they held an eight-point lead at the break.

The Huskies dominated inside with a 43-37 rebounding edge over the Eagles (15-4, 6-2). Jones led the Huskies with 13 rebounds and had three of the team’s nine blocked shots.

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No. 3 Stanford 62, Arizona State 48--Lindsey Yamasaki scored 23 of her season-high 27 points in the first half at Palo Alto as the Cardinal won its 12th in a row.

Nicole Powell added 13 points as Stanford (20-1, 10-0 in the Pac-10) beat the Sun Devils at home for the 18th consecutive time.

Betsy Boardman scored 15 points to lead the Sun Devils (16-6, 7-4), who lost for the first time in 16 games when allowing 67 points or fewer.

Arizona State, held to its season low, began the day leading the Pac-10 in fewest points allowed per game. Stanford leads in scoring offense and largest margin of victory.

Stanford recorded its 13th 20-win season in the last 15 years.

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No. 4 Oklahoma 72, Texas A&M; 40--LaNeishea Caufield and Stacey Dales each scored 13 points at College Station, Texas, as the Sooners found their shooting touch in the second half.

Oklahoma (16-2, 6-1 in the Big 12) beat the Aggies (10-9, 2-5) for the seventh straight time.

The Sooners, who shot just 31% in the first half, made 10 of their first 13 shots while the Aggies were only one for eight to begin the second half.

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No. 8 Louisiana Tech 88, Rice 42--Amber Obaze scored 20 points and Cheryl Ford had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Lady Techsters (14-3, 9-0 in the Western Athletic) at Ruston, La.

Louisiana Tech shot 53% in the first half while holding Rice (13-5, 7-2) to 17%.

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No. 15 Baylor 80, No. 13 Texas 70--Sheila Lambert scored 26 points, including a key three-pointer with just over a minute left, for Baylor (16-3, 4-3 in the Big 12) at Austin, Texas.

Kala Bowers led Texas (14-4, 6-2) with 18 points.

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No. 14 Iowa State 82, Nebraska 71--Angie Welle had18 points at Lincoln, Neb., to become the all-time leading scorer for Iowa State (15-5, 3-5 in the Big 12).

Nebraska is 12-8, 2-5.

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Notre Dame 64, No. 16 Virginia Tech 57--Jacqueline Batteast scored 26 points and Alicia Ratay added 22 as the Irish (11-7, 5-2 in the Big East) extended their home win streak to 47.

Virginia Tech is 15-4, 6-2.

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No. 20 Colorado 78, Missouri 56--Jenny Roulier scored 23 points and Tera Bjorklund added 17 for Colorado (15-6, 5-3 in the Big 12) at Columbia, Mo.

Missouri is 12-6 and 3-4.