No. 12 UCLA rolls past Arizona and into Pac-12 women’s tournament semis; USC falls to Oregon State

Monique Billings had 18 points and eight rebounds, and No. 12 UCLA raced past Arizona for a 72-51 victory in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals Friday in Seattle.

The Bruins (23-7) used a big first half to take a 21-point halftime lead and cruised into the semifinals. They will face California on Saturday after the Golden Bears upset 10th-ranked Arizona State. UCLA knocked off Arizona 80-53 a week ago in Los Angeles and followed up with another dominating performance to reach the Pac-12 semifinals for the first time since 2013 when it lost in the championship game to Stanford.

Nirra Fields scored 17 points and the Bruins won for the seventh time in eight games.

LaBrittney Jones led Arizona (13-19) with 15 points. No other Wildcats scored in double figures.

It was the final game at Arizona for Coach Niya Butts. The school announced earlier this week that she would not return next season. The Wildcats knocked off sixth-seeded Oregon in the opening round on Thursday, their second straight win after an 11-game losing streak, but couldn’t keep it going for one more game.

No. 8 Oregon State 63, USC 53: Sadie Edwards scored 20 points for the Trojans (19-13), who kept it close until the final minutes of a quarterfinal defeat that left them with what appear to be slim hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Jamie Weisner scored 20 points and Ruth Hamblin and Sydney Wiese added 17 apiece for Oregon State (26-4), which will face Washington or No. 11 Stanford in Saturday’s semifinals.

Oregon State was never able to put the Trojans away, despite out-rebounding them 40-25 and shooting 53% compared to USC’s 38%. Temi Fagbenle was the only other USC player to score in double figures, with 10 points.

Washington 73, No. 11 Stanford 65: Kelsey Plum had 29 points and became the all-team leading scorer for the Huskies (22-9), whose starters all played the entire game in an upset of the Cardinal (24-7).

Talia Walton had 19 points and seven rebounds, Katie Collier scored 13 and Chantel Osahor took down 16 rebounds for Washington, which will face No. 8 Oregon State in the semifinals.

Erica McCall scored 22 points for Stanford, which had never failed to reach the semifinals of any previous Pac-12 tournament.

California 75, No. 10 Arizona State 64: Pac-12 freshman of the year Kristine Anigwe scored 24 points, Asha Thomas had all 16 of her points in the second half and the 10th-seeded Bears pulled off another upset.

After knocking off Utah in overtime in the opening round Thursday, Cal handed the Sun Devils their second straight loss. The only hope for the Golden Bears (15-16) to make the NCAA tournament for a fifth straight season is to win the conference tournament after a lackluster regular season.