USC puts lid on UCLA women

Members of the 1978 national championship UCLA women’s basketball team were honored Sunday during a Pacific 10 Conference game between the Bruins and USC.

They were probably wondering whether they had eligibility left after watching UCLA’s current team tie a school record for fewest points in a 49-36 loss to the Trojans in front of 8,013, the fourth-largest crowd to attend a women’s game at Pauley Pavilion.

The combined score also was the lowest in the program’s history.

“We had a lot of adrenaline,” said UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier. “Over 8,000 people here and we were not in a flow . . . too anxious, too much in a hurry.”

The Bruins, 13-12 overall and 8-6 in the Pac-10, shot a season-low 22.8%, making only 13 of 57 field-goal attempts. They weren’t much better from the free-throw line, missing 10 of 18. For the first time this season, no player scored in double digits for the Bruins. Tierra Henderson led the team with seven points.

USC Coach Mark Trakh called UCLA’s interior “physical, huge and strong,” but 6-foot-3 junior center Nadia Parker was up to the challenge, totaling a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds.

“Our post players were stepping up and stopping,” Trakh said.

Trakh also said the Trojans specifically targeted UCLA senior forward Lindsey Pluimer on defense, holding her to a season-low six points on three-for-seven shooting from the field and three rebounds.

“We weren’t going to leave her,” Trakh said. “Someone else was going to have to beat us.”

Pluimer made a jump shot on the first possession of the second half to cut the deficit to 22-14, but the Bruins committed eight turnovers over the next eight minutes and the Trojans eventually followed with a 9-0 run to give themselves a 41-25 lead with 8:50 remaining.

“I felt like there was someone on me 24/7,” said Pluimer, who came in averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. “They were well-prepared and had a good game plan.”

With the victory, USC (16-9, 9-5) assumed sole possession of fourth place in the Pac-10 with four games left. The Trojans also put themselves in better position for getting an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament, should they not win next month’s conference tournament in San Jose.

“We’re at 16 wins,” Trakh said. “We probably need 19 to get in.”

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dan.arritt@latimes.com