UCLA Women’s Hoops Tops Southern Cal; Faces Stanford in Pac-12 Semifinal

Tonight, the UCLA women’s basketball team will play Stanford in the second semifinal of the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 pm PT, but could be subject to change if the first semifinal between Oregon and Arizona goes long.

Last Time Out

Because the UCLA women’s basketball team finished second in the regular season standings, the Bruins were seeded second in the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament and received a first round. That resulted in the Bruins playing Southern Cal last night and UCLA won the quarterfinal game, 73-66.

The Trojans held the Bruins scoreless for the first four minutes of yesterday’s game when they began with an 11-0 run. Finally, Japreece Dean hit a jumper with 5:39 left in the quarter to get UCLA on the board, but Southern Cal went on another 5-0 run and UCLA trailed 16-2.

In the final four minutes of the first quarter, UCLA outscored Southern Cal 10-7 but the Bruins trailed, 23-12, heading into the second quarter.

The second quarter began with UCLA going on a 13-3 run to cut the Trojans’ lead to a point, 26-25, with 6:42 left in the half. After Southern Cal hit a three-pointer to stretch their lead back to four points, the Bruins scored five straight to take their first lead of the game, 30-29. Both teams scored seven over the rest of the quarter and UCLA took a 37-36 lead into the locker room at the half.

UCLA stretched their lead to as many as six in the third quarter and that’s what they led by with 4:36 to go, but a 12-0 run by Southern Cal left the Bruins down after three quarters, 52-46.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Bruins and they started it off right—with a 10-2 run to re-take the lead. But it was another UCLA run that made the difference in the game. This time, it was a 9-0 run, which that began when the score was tied 60-60, that finished off the Trojans. Southern Cal tried to mount a late comeback, but the Bruin defense didn’t let that happen and UCLA won, 73-66.

Tonight’s Matchup

UCLA played Stanford just once this season and the Bruins won the game at Maples Pavilion by ten, 79-69. The Bruins have won eight of their last ten games while the Cardinal have won seven of their last ten.

The difference is the head-to-head matchup between these two teams.

Given that UCLA went into Maples Pavilion and came out with a win in front of a hostile road crowd, the Bruins should win tonight’s neutral court game, but they will still need to bring their A game given that Stanford is ranked seventh, one spot ahead of UCLA.

UCLA needs to win tonight in order to help improve the Bruins’ NCAA Tournament seed. Hopefully, they will be able to do so.

This is your UCLA Bruins vs. Stanford Cardinal Pac-12 Women’s Tournament game thread.


Go Bruins!!!