Bruins Beat Cal, Will Face Stanford

As they did in their two regular-season meetings, UCLA and California struggled against themselves as much as each other for most of their Pacific 10 Conference tournament first-round game Friday night.

Eventually someone had to win, and the Bruins outlasted the Bears for the third time this season, 46-42, before 5,842 at McArthur Court. Bruin reserve guard Gennifer Arranaga led all scorers with 17 points.

The “reward” for UCLA (9-19) is a quarterfinal date with regular-season conference champion and top-seeded Stanford today. In their two meetings this season, the Cardinal outscored the Bruins by a combined 49 points.

The Bears, led by Ami Forney with 11 points, ended their season at 7-21.

Neither team had so much as a lukewarm hand in the first half. UCLA made only seven of 23 attempts (30.4%); California was equally frosty, with eight baskets in 29 shots (27.6%). Despite missing their first five shots, the Bruins worked their way to a 20-16 lead with 3:28 left in the half. But they did not score again and Cal rallied for a 21-20 lead at the half.

The Bruins finally got untracked after halftime, ripping off a 19-4 run that put them in charge, 39-30, with 9:49 to play.

UCLA still led, 43-34, with 4:14 to play, but another Bruin cold spell kept Cal close. A 10-foot bank shot by Arranaga at the 9:49 mark was the last field goal the Bruins made. UCLA’s final seven points came at the foul line.

Cal got as close as 43-42 with 34 seconds left. But Bruin forward Whitney Jones made two free throws, and Cal guard Jackie Lord missed a three-point shot that would have tied it with seven seconds to play.

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Oregon 85, Washington State 67--Oregon (16-12) got 16 points from Edniesha Curry and advanced to meet Washington today. Washington State (2-27) lost its final 24 games and is the first Pac-10 team to go a full season without a conference win.