UCLA WOMEN TOP STANFORD
Cori Close brought an inexperienced, but talented team to the Pac-12 tournament hoping high stakes in Las Vegas could finally teach UCLA how to win.
The Bruins cashed out Friday.
UCLA shocked No. 1seeded Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament semifinal, winning 69-65 to advance to Sunday’s final against No. 7 seed Washington State or No. 3 Colorado at 2 p.m. at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
UCLA is one win away from its second conference tournament title and first since 2006.
“We need these kind of reference points where we conquer hard things to make it go from our head to our heart,” Close said, “and that’s what this was.”
Freshman Kiki Rice carried the fifth-seeded Bruins (25-8) with 22 points, five assists and five rebounds. She knocked down 12 of 13 shots from the free throw line with her first miss of the game coming with UCLA up by two with 21 seconds remaining. The Bruins corralled the loose ball to earn two more free throws.
Senior Charisma Osborne didn’t miss those.
Osborne, UCLA’s lone All-Pac-12 team honoree, had 13 points as the Bruins came back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to end a four-game losing streak against Stanford (28-5) and beat the Cardinal in a conference tournament game for just the second time in 13 tries.
At the final horn, Osborne ran into freshman forward Christeen Iwuala’s arms as the Bruins jumped in celebration at midcourt.
“It wasn’t pretty the entire time, but even if you saw us after the game, we had so much joy,” Osborne said. “So I think this actually might be one of my favorite games that I’ve ever played in.”
Emily Bessoir scored 14 points, Osborne added 13 and Gina Conti 11 for UCLA, which erased a 16-point third-quarter deficit.
Cameron Brink scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Cardinal (28-5). Haley Jones finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Women’s Top 10
No. 1 South Carolina 93, Arkansas 66: Victaria Saxton scored 19 points and Aliyah Boston had her 79th career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds as South Carolina improved to 30-0 and advanced to the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals. The Gamecocks, who’ve won 36 straight, will face fourthseeded Mississippi in today’s semis.
No. 2 Indiana 94, Michigan State 85: Mackenzie Holmes scored 27 points and Sara Scalia added 20 as topseeded Indiana overcame a slow start to hold off Michigan State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Chloe Moore-McNeil had 19 points and 11 assists for the Hoosiers (27-2), while Yarden Garzon added 12 points and five rebounds. Indiana faces No. 14 Ohio State in the first semifinal at Target Center.
No. 4 LSU 83, Georgia 66: Alexis Morris scored 28 points and Flau’jae Johnson had 21 as the second-seeded Tigers (28-1) used their longrange shooting to advance to the Southeastern Conference semifinals.
No. 5 Maryland 73, Illinois 58: Diamond Miller had 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists to lead Maryland (25-5) past Illinois and into the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
No. 7 Iowa 69, Purdue 58: Caitlin Clark had 12 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead Iowa (24-6) past Purdue after a sluggish start in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
No. 8 Virginia Tech 68, Miami 42: Elizabeth Kitley had 22 points and 10 rebounds to help Virginia Tech (25-4) advance to the semifinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Men’s results
BYU 82, Portland 71: Richie Saunders led BYU over Portland with 18 points off the bench in the second round of the West Coast Conference tournament. BYU, seeded fifth, advances to play the No. 4 seed, Loyola Marymount, in today’s quarterfinal round.
Saunders also contributed seven rebounds for the Cougars (17-14). Fousseyni Traore added 14 points while finishing 6 of 7 from the floor. Tyler Robertson led the Pilots (13-18) in scoring, finishing with 31 points, six assists and two steals.
SE Missouri St. 65, Morehead State 58: Chris Harris scored 15 points to spark Southeast Missouri State’s upset win over top-seeded Morehead State (21-10) in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
The Redhawks now face Tennessee Tech, a winner over UT Martin on Friday, in the championship game today, with the winner earning the first automatic bid into the NCAA tournament via a conference tourney.