Stanford women stunned by UCLA in Pac-12 semis

LAS VEGAS — Heading to the locker room at halftime, Stanford players' smiles were as wide as their 13-point lead. But their easy-going demeanor soon would evaporate, and the Cardinal would leave Las Vegas stunned and empty-handed.

UCLA scored 29 fourthquarter points, capped by a wacky finish that propelled the fifth-seeded Bruins to an upset of top-seeded Stanford 69-65 on Friday in ae Pac-12 tournament semifinal. It's the first time since 2016 that Stanford didn't make the Pac-12 title game.

UCLA outscored Stanford by 14 in the final frame after trailing by as many as 16 in the third. It was Stanford's largest lost lead of the season.

The 29 fourth-quarter points from the Bruins were more than the 22 they posted in the first half.

“We really just didn't do what we needed to do in the second half,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I thought we had a really good first half. But compliment UCLA. They stepped up big. They were aggressive. They got on the boards. We had opportunities down the stretch and just didn't come up with the ball.”

The Bruins took the lead with 1:57 left and wouldn't relinquish it.

Agnes Emma-Nnopu's layup brought Stanford within one with just under a minute remaining. On the next possession, Kiki Rice missed a free throw, and Brink appeared to get the rebound, but a held ball call kept the ball in UCLA's possession.

With 8.9 seconds left, Indya Nivar chased Rice to foul her, and the Cardinal believed she had carried the ball. Instead, the Bruins kept possession and hit their final free throws, and with 5.3 seconds left, Stanford didn't get another shot.

“We had defensive breakdowns, we missed shots, they missed shots, they made some, we made some,” Stanford senior All-American Haley Jones said.

“I think they played more aggressive than we did and they jumped on us and I don't think we ever really bounced back from that. We were outscored in both quarters in that second half, which is disappointing.”

The Cardinal are still projected as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and to host the first two rounds at Maples in two weeks.

“We didn't get the nets that we wanted here,” Emma-Nnopu said. “But there's still nets to cut down in the NCAA Tournament.”

Gould won’t return to 49ers next season

Robbie Gould, one of the most reliable kickers in NFL history and who has a spotless playoff résumé, won't return to the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 after spending the previous six seasons with the franchise.

Gould, 40, who will be an unrestricted free agent on March 15, will reach the open market and play elsewhere next season, a league source said. The news comes after general manager John Lynch said Tuesday that the 49ers were evaluating kickers at the NFL combine, while adding that retaining Gould was “still very much in the picture.”

The 49ers, who have about $6 million in salary cap space, will save millions if they replace Gould with a college kicker. Gould earned an average of $4.75 million over the past four seasons. However, they would at least initially lose peace of mind: Gould ranks eighth in NFL history in fieldgoal percentage (86.5), has made all 68 kicks in his postseason career (29 field goals, 39 extra points).

The 49ers could have applied the franchise tag on Gould, but that would cost $5.39 million in 2023. The 49ers placed the tag on Gould in 2019, but he did not sign his tender and requested a trade. Gould and the 49ers then reached agreement on his four-year, $19 million contract before training camp that season.

Auto racing: Chase Elliott is out indefinitely after undergoing a successful three-hour surgery to repair a fractured tibia, Hendrick Motorsports general manager Jeff Andrews said Saturday.

Andrews said there was no timeline on when the star NASCAR driver would return.

Elliott injured his left leg Friday while snowboarding in Colorado. Josh Berry will drive the No. 9 Chevrolet in place of Elliott in Sunday's Cup race in Las Vegas.

Tennis: Daniil Medvedev won his 18th tour-level title and third in a row by beating Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-2 in an allRussian final at the Dubai Championships on Saturday.

The former No. 1 extended his winning streak to 14 matches in a run that started on Valentine's Day and included back-to-back trophies in Rotterdam and Doha.

MLB: Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won't play for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic because of inflammation in his right knee. Toronto manager John Schneider said Saturday that an MRI showed no structural damage.