UCLA 77 CALIFORNIA 74
Canada scores 27 points as Bruins advance.
Facing a surprisingly quick ouster, Jordin Canada and her UCLA teammates pulled it together down the stretch to pull out a victory.
Canada scored 27 points and No. 9 UCLA held California scoreless for more than two minutes late to escape with a 77-74 victory in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals on Friday at Seattle.
Mikayla Cowling’s pullup jumper put Cal up 69-68 with 2:40 remaining, but the Bruins responded with six consecutive points, going up 74-69 on two free throws by Canada with 38 seconds left.
“I’m really proud of our poise,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “We were down seven with 6:57 left to go in the game and then had nine out of 11 trips where we scored. I just thought we were led by our seniors, not only statistically, but in their poise and in their emotional leadership.”
UCLA (24-6) advanced to Saturday’s semifinals against Oregon, which defeated UCLA twice in conference play.
Cowling had 16 points and Asha Thomas and Kristine Anigwe added 15 apiece for Cal (21-10). Kelli Hayes and Monique Billings each added 18 points for UCLA.
“When crunch time came, we put ourselves in a position to beat a very good UCLA team,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “This UCLA team is elite. Obviously, they have a shot to win this tournament.”
No. 16 Stanford 69, USC 59: Kiana Williams scored 18 points and Alanna Smith scored 14 and the Cardinal (21-9) never trailed.
Stanford led 21-9 at the end of the first quarter and was never in jeopardy. The Trojans (20-11) managed to draw within six points — 5751 and 59-53 — in the fourth quarter but never got closer.
Aliyah Mazyck led USC with 22 points.
No. 6 Oregon 84, Colorado 47: Conference freshman of the year Satou Sabally scored 21 points and made five three-pointers for the Ducks (28-4), while Lexi Bando added 19 points. Oregon shot 56% from the field and 48% on three-pointers.
Arizona State 57, No. 10 Oregon State 51: Courtney Ekmark scored 18 points and Kianna Ibis had 14 points and 14 rebounds as the Sun Devils (21-11) surprised the Beavers.
Arizona State held Oregon State to five points in the fourth quarter.