USC Rallies but Can’t Quite Get Past Oregon State

USC looked forward to the Pacific 10 tournament to get another chance at Stanford, which went through the conference regular season undefeated.

But the fourth-seeded Trojans had to get past fifth-seeded Oregon State for a third time this season.

No such luck.

On Saturday, before 5,232 at McArthur Court, the Beavers scratched out a 69-68 victory.

With four seconds left and the score tied, 67-67, Ebony Hoffman, who was fouled after an offensive rebound, made one of two free throws to put the Trojans in front.

After a timeout, Oregon State’s Felicia Ragland was fouled by Karmen Krause on the inbounds play with three seconds remaining. Ragland, who led all scorers with 29 points, made both free throws to keep the Beavers’ season alive.

So Oregon State (16-13) heads to a tournament semifinal game today against the top-seeded Cardinal. USC fell to 15-13 and must wait for the NCAA or NIT to call.

Aisha Hollans led USC with 22 points.

The Trojans appeared to be in trouble early, falling behind, 17-4, in the first eight minutes. They still trailed by nine, 31-22 at the 3:51 mark before closing the gap to 35-33 at halftime.

USC tied the score four times in the second half, and took the lead, 67-65, on Jessica Cheek’s 12-foot jumper with 51 seconds to play. Ragland tied the score again with 39 seconds left on a pair of free throws, setting up the final, frantic finish.

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Stanford 96, UCLA 61--For 31/2 minutes of the first half the Bruins could dare to dream. After all, the top-seeded and second-ranked Cardinal had missed its first four shots and was scoreless.

The problem? So was UCLA, which missed its first five shots. The Bruins would miss six more attempts before getting a basket. By that time Stanford had run off eight consecutive points, and was rolling to its 21st consecutive victory.

Despite missing leading scorer Lindsey Yamasaki, who underwent surgery this week for appendicitis, Stanford (29-1) had little trouble with UCLA thanks to five players in double figures, led by Azella Perryman with 17.

Gennifer Arranaga had 16 points to lead the Bruins in scoring for the fourth consecutive game.

But she could not keep UCLA’s season from ending at 9-20.

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Arizona State 66, Arizona 58--The third-seeded Sun Devils (22-8), who trailed 36-26 at halftime, never led until guard Amanda Levens made a 16-footer with 2:05 left to play. It was her first basket of the game after missing her first 10 attempts.

Arizona State locked up Arizona defensively in the second half; the Wildcats (14-14) made only four of 23 shots in the last 20 minutes.

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Oregon 78, Washington 64--The tournament will move to San Jose next season, and no one can be happier than the second-seeded Huskies (17-11), who lost their 10th consecutive game here. The seventh-seeded Ducks (17-12) were led by guard Shaquala Williams, who poured in 26 points. Giuliana Mendiola had 18 for Washington.