USC Gets Closer to Top; UCLA Upsets Arizona

With five games left in the Pacific 10 regular season entering Thursday’s contest against Arizona State, there were no games for USC to waste in its pursuit of the conference title.

The Trojans started their stretch drive by playing with a sense of urgency in defeating the Sun Devils, 65-50, before 532 at the Sports Arena.

Meghan Gnekow had 19 points and Ebony Hoffman had 17 points and 10 rebounds as USC (13-9, 10-4 Pac-10) moved into third place, a half-game ahead of Arizona State. The Trojans trail first-place Stanford and Arizona by a half-game after the No. 24 Wildcats’ loss at UCLA. USC and Arizona play Sunday at the Sports Arena.

Arizona State (15-7, 9-4) saw its winning streak end at five, crumbling in the face of voracious Trojan defense that forced 34 turnovers, a season-high for the Sun Devils. And when Arizona State didn’t mishandle the ball, it didn’t shoot it well (14 for 43, 32.6%).

“This was one of our better defensive games,” USC Coach Chris Gobrecht said. “We know this is crunch time. The way we approached this whole game was very businesslike. We knew we had to work the whole game, and boy we did that from the opening tip.”

The Trojans got defensive with the Sun Devils from the outset, holding the visitors to one basket in the first 6:09 and eventually building a 35-19 halftime lead.

Things went from bad to worse for the Sun Devils as the Trojans scored the first 10 points of the second half. Two of them came on Hoffman free throws after a technical foul was called on Sun Devil Coach Charli Turner Thorne.

The 26-point lead was USC’s largest of the game.

Mike Terry

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UCLA 87, No. 24 Arizona 68 -- Noelle Quinn had 31 points and 10 rebounds at Pauley Pavilion to help the Bruins to their fourth consecutive victory.

Lisa Willis scored 19 points and Nikki Blue added 16 points and 11 assists for UCLA (13-10, 8-6).

Dee-Dee Wheeler led Arizona (18-6, 10-3) with 25 points and Shawntinice Polk had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

UCLA led, 35-29, at halftime and pulled away after the break, making eight of 12 three-point shots.

The Wildcats shot only 56% from the free-throw line and 44% from the field.

OTHER GAMES

Ashley Robinson scored 16 points and reserve Brittany Jackson added 15 to help No. 3 Tennessee (20-2, 8-0 Southeastern) win their 29th consecutive conference game, a 70-67 victory over No. 19 Georgia (16-7, 5-5) at Athens, Ga.... Alana Beard scored 23 points and No. 4 Duke (19-3, 10-1 Atlantic Coast) defeated Wake Forest (10-13, 3-9) for the 25th consecutive time, 80-55, at Durham, N.C.

Amber Obaze scored 17 points to give No. 6 Louisiana Tech (17-2, 10-1 Western Athletic) its 10th consecutive victory, 85-43, over Hawaii (5-14, 3-7) at Ruston, La.... Caity Matter scored 24 of her 28 points in the first half, helping Ohio State (14-8, 6-5 Big Ten) earn a 75-57 victory over No. 10 Minnesota (18-4, 7-4) at Columbus, Ohio.

Reserve Louise Emeagi scored 21 points in 26 minutes and Le’Coe Willingham had 20 points and seven rebounds to lead No. 14 Auburn (19-5, 7-3 SEC) past Mississippi, 82-70, at Oxford, Miss. Tywanna Inmon scored 17 points for the Rebels (15-9, 6-4).... At Baton Rouge, La., Doneeka Hodges scored 22 points and Seimone Augustus added 20 to lead No. 16 Louisiana State (19-7, 7-2 SEC) to a 92-65 victory over Arkansas (14-8, 3-6).

Lindsay Bowen scored 14 of her 17 points during a second-half comeback at Ann Arbor, Mich., and No. 17 Michigan State (19-4, 9-3 Big Ten) scored the final 11 points in a 59-54 victory over Michigan (11-14, 4-8).... Tan White scored 22 points and Tiania Burns had 21 for Mississippi State (10-12, 4-5), which snapped a five-game winning streak by No. 20 Florida (16-6, 6-3) with an 88-76 victory at Starkville, Miss.

Eleanor Haring had a career-high 16 points as Oregon (12-11, 4-9 Pac-10) defeated Washington State, 74-52, at Eugene, Ore. The Cougars, (5-18, 1-13) have lost 16 of 17. Kate Benz scored 17 points for Washington State.