Cal’s upset run, season end in Pac-12 tourney loss to UA
Cal’s quest to beat three ranked opponents in a week and advance into the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament fell short Friday, as Arizona beat the Golden Bears 86-73 and knocked them out of the bracket.
The 12th-seeded Bears (12-19) came in to Friday’s game riding high after upsetting No. 5 seed Arizona State Thursday. But that positivity quickly ran out as the Wildcats got out to a 9-0 start and led wire-to-wire.
Arizona sophomore forward Cate Reese poured in 30 points on an efficient 13-of-15 shooting from the field. Her hot shooting propelled the Wildcats to a nice 54.7 percent mark from the field, including 8-of20 from 3-point range.
Senior Jaelyn Brown led the Bears with 25 points, followed by fellow guard Jazlen Green, a freshman, with 15.
After a 3-pointer from Arizona freshman guard Helena Pueyo halfway through the second quarter stretched the Wildcats’ lead to 32-22, the Bears were never within a single-digit margin the rest of the game.
Arizona (24-6) will face top-seeded Oregon in the early semifinal Saturday night.
OREGON 79, UTAH 59 >> Miramonte High product Sabrina Ionescu scored 19 points to lead No. 3 to the Pac-12 semifinals against Arizona.
With a third straight Pac-12 regularseason title in hand, the Ducks (29-2) will ride a 17-game winning streak into their fourth successive Pac-12 Tournament semifinal. Oregon, which has played for the last two Pac-12 championships, is looking for its second conference tournament title after winning in 2017-18. Stanford defeated the Ducks in last year’s title game.
The Ducks erased a six-point first-quarter deficit and used a 20-4 run in the second quarter to seize momentum. The Ducks were 12 of 23 from 3-point range, falling one 3-pointer shy of tying the Pac12 Tournament single-game record.
NO. 8 UCLA 73, USC 66 >> Michaela Onyenwere had a game-high 26 points and 15 rebounds to help the second-seeded Bruins (26-4) advance to tonight’s semifinals against Stanford or Oregon State, who played late Friday.
West Coast Conference
PACIFIC 67, SANTA CLARA 49 >> Fifth-seeded Pacific (17-13) opened the game on a 13-1 run and never looked back, as the season came to an end for eighth-seeded Santa Clara in the second round of the WCC tournament. SCU (12-19) never got closer than seven in the final 37 minutes of the game. Santa Clara was hurt by cold shooting, finishing at just 29.4-percent from the field.
“Hats off to Pacific, they came out and jumped us early,” Santa Clara coach Bill Carr said. “We couldn’t recover as well as we would have liked but we kept fighting, which was nice. We had some opportunities to cut the score and give us a chance with some good looks, but the ball just didn’t go in the basket.”
Ashlyn Herlihy led the Broncos with 11 points, while Merle Wiehl scored 10 and Lindsey VanAllen had nine. PEPPERDINE 87, SAINT MARY’S 72 >> Sophomore Sam Simons scored 24 points, but the seventh-seeded Gaels were out-scored 50-31 in the second half to see their season ended by the sixth-seeded Waves.
Taycee Wedin added 11 points and Tyra Moe scored 10 for the Gaels, who finished the season 12-19.
Around the nation
NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 89, GEORGIA 56 >> Mikiah Herbert Harrigan had 16 points, and No. 1 South Carolina won its 24th straight game to start the SEC Tournament. The Gamecocks (30-1), the regular-season champs and tournament’s top seed, reached the 30-victory mark for fourth time in the past six seasons.
NO. 4 LOUISVILLE 71, SYRACUSE 46 >> Dana Evans scored 23 points and the topseeded Cardinals (28-3) dominated the second quarter to beat Syracuse in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
NO. 6 MARYLAND 74, PURDUE 62 >> Taylor Mikesell scored 22 points and the topseeded Terrapins (26-4) won their 15th in a row.