Morris helps UCLA avenge losses to USC

Darxia Morris scored 19 points on nine-for-11 shooting, Doreena Campbell had 13 and UCLA avenged two earlier defeats to its rival with a 73-52 victory over USC on Saturday night to reach the semifinals of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament at San Jose.

Leading scorer Lindsey Pluimer scored 11 points for the fifth-seeded Bruins (16-14), who advanced to today’s semifinals to face No. 6 Stanford. The top-seeded Cardinal eliminated Oregon State earlier Saturday.

Camille Lenoir scored 13 points but was 0 for 9 from three-point range for the cold-shooting Trojans (17-13), the fourth-seeded team, which shot 30% from the field and committed 29 turnovers.

It was the first meeting between the schools in the seven-year history of the Pac-10 tournament -- and a sloppy matchup it was. The teams combined for 51 turnovers and USC shot two for 21 from long range.

Morris scored seven of her points during a 13-2 run by UCLA early in the second half that put the game out of reach. The spurt broke open a 37-30 game and made it 50-32 with 12:24 to play.

UCLA led, 35-24, at halftime behind a combined 16 points from Morris and reserve Campbell, but USC didn’t help its cause offensively, making only seven of 29 field-goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

No. 6 Stanford 64, Oregon State 41 -- Jayne Appel made all eight of her shots on the way to 19 points and also had 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, leading the Cardinal (28-3) over the Beavers (11-19).

Pac-10 freshman of the year Kayla Pedersen scored 22 points on 10-for-15 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Conference player of the year Candice Wiggins contributed 11 points and five assists and even got to rest for spurts in top-seeded Stanford’s 16th straight victory.

Brittney Davis scored 18 points to lead eighth-seeded Oregon State, which shot 31% from the field.

The Cardinal made seven of its first nine shots, jumped to a 17-11 lead and got eight early points from Appel.

No. 10 California 67, Oregon 60 -- Natasha Vital had 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, and the second-seeded Bears (25-5) did just enough when it counted to edge the seventh-seeded Ducks (14-17).

Devanei Hampton had 15 points, seven rebounds and three steals, and Ashley Walker scored 15 for Cal, which had its best regular season ever.

Alexis Gray-Lawson made four free throws in the final 14.5 seconds to secure the win and finished with 14 points.

Cal -- which made 10 of 12 free throws over the final 1:33 -- will certainly need a better showing against Arizona State, a 83-64 winner over Washington, in today’s first semifinal.

Taylor Lilley, Oregon’s only player averaging in double digits scoring, had 24 points and Kaela Chapdelaine 12 for the Ducks,

Arizona State 83, Washington 64 -- Sybil Dosty had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Briann January had 13 points and five assists, leading the Sun Devils (21-9) over the Huskies (13-18).