No. 15 UCLA stuns eighth-ranked Stanford
STANFORD — UCLA needed a bounce-back game in a big way after a narrow loss at California three nights earlier. Stanford had a “hangover” from the emotional high of Tara VanDerveer’s 1,000th win, and the Hall of Fame coach said that very thing before telling her team to “just let it go.”
Jordin Canada scored 25 points, Monique Billings had 21 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, and No. 15 UCLA stunned eighthranked Stanford 85-76 Monday night.
“Wow, this conference is really, really good,” Bruins coach Cori Close said.
After losing in Berkeley on Friday night, the Bruins rebounded to beat the Cardinal one game after VanDerveer became just the second women’s coach with 1,000 wins alongside the late Pat Summitt and third overall in Division I with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.
Kari Korver had 17 points for UCLA (18-5, 9-3 Pac-12), which won the lone game last season 56-36 in Los Angeles that snapped a 21-game Stanford winning streak in the series. The Bruins snapped a 16-game losing streak at Maples since their last victory here on Jan. 16, 1999.
“That’s just going to carry us over into March and help us in the Pac-12 tournament and NCAA Tournament,” Canada said.
Karlie Samuelson scored 15 points and Erica McCall and Alanna Smith each added 14 for Stanford (20-4, 10-2), which allowed 80 or more points in a conference game for just the 12th time since 2000.
“I’m disappointed but I’m not discouraged,” VanDerveer said.
The Cardinal didn’t take care of the ball when it mattered — a point of emphasis by VanDerveer after Friday’s game — and had their sevengame winning streak snapped since a double-overtime home loss to Oregon State on Jan. 8.
Cold-shooting Stanford missed high-percentage shots in the paint and failed to convert crucial free throws that would have been three-point plays, going 13 of 20 from the line.
The Cardinal shot 4 for 20 in the third quarter and Roberson went down hard with 2.8 seconds left in the third when she was screened. Stanford trailed by four heading into the fourth.