Stanford Routs UCLA for Sweep

Arizona State has a better record and a higher ranking.

But Stanford’s 91-68 victory over UCLA Sunday at Maples Pavilion made it clear to the Bruins that the road to the Pacific 10 Conference women’s basketball championship still goes through the defending champion and 14th-ranked Cardinal.

As impressive as Stanford’s performance was, it left the Cardinal (8-4, 3-1) in a three-way tie for second in the Pac-10 behind the first-place, 11th-ranked Sun Devils (12-1, 3-0) while UCLA (7-6, 2-2) dropped to a two-way tie for fifth with USC.

Candice Wiggins, with 30 points, controlled the perimeter with her speed and quickness. Brooke Smith, with 23 points and 14 rebounds, was overpowering inside. When the Bruins tried to apply any clamps on those two, Krista Rappahahn took over from beyond the three-point arc, making five of 11 long range and finishing with 17 points overall.

“I was proud of our team’s weekend and how hard they played against an excellent UCLA team,” said Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer, whose Cardinal also beat USC on Friday. “Our balance really helped today, getting those shots from Rapp to spread their defense. We knew they would come out and trap, and I thought we handled that. We know we haven’t played great second halves, and we came out with a conscience effort to do that, especially in the last 10 minutes.”

Beyond Lisa Willis, who had 20 points and seven rebounds, UCLA (7-6, 2-2) struggled to find its rhythm. Nikki Blue had 13 points but made only five of 15 shots. Noelle Quinn connected on only four of 12 shots and scored eight points, her season low. Lindsey Pluimer tried to make Smith play defense but had only four points on one-for-seven shooting. UCLA ended up shooting 39.7% to Stanford’s 47.9%.

“Life on the road is not fun in the Pac-10,” UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier said. “We’re just a little out of sync right now, and Stanford looked very comfortable on their home floor. They were ready for our defenses, moved the ball well and got some good looks.”

Stanford wasted little time in putting the first degree of separation between itself and UCLA, unleashing a 17-2 run during the first six minutes to pull out to a 20-8 lead.

The Bruins did narrow the gap to three, but the only thing stopping Wiggins was early foul trouble, and Stanford -- with 11 turnovers -- wasn’t giving UCLA many freebies.

By halftime, Stanford led, 44-31. And the Cardinal methodically kept extending its margin in the second half, reaching a peak of 27 (at 89-62) with 2:24 left.

“It was struggle for everybody,” Willis said. “Because everybody wanted to come and save the day. It was tough to try and keep it team ball, which is our strength.”

California 73, USC 68 -- Devenai Hampton’s 22 points and fellow freshman Alexis Gray-Lawson’s 21 points combined to lead the Golden Bears (11-3, 3-1) past the Trojans (8-5, 2-2), completing Cal’s first sweep over USC and UCLA in Berkeley since 1993. The Bears, under new Coach Joanne Boyle, are off to their best start in the last 14 seasons. Camille LeNoir led the Trojans with 24 points.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.