USC Fends Off Pesky Bruins

Calm did not completely prevail Saturday in the second meeting between UCLA and USC. But the Trojans prevailed over the Bruins, 71-58, before 3,217 at the Sports Arena.

Led by guards Aisha Hollans, who had 24 points, and Jessica Cheeks, who had 13 of her 15 points in the first half, the Trojans recorded their first regular-season sweep of the Bruins in five years. USC (13-10, 9-5) also won successive games for the first time since defeating Oregon on Dec. 22 and California on Dec. 28.

UCLA (7-16, 3-11), got 21 points from Whitney Jones, tying her career high. But no other Bruin reached double figures. Brianna Winn was next with nine points.

USC shot 36.8% from the field (21 of 57), but led from start to finish. UCLA, which shot 45% (22 of 49), got as close as 22-21 with 4:02 left in the first half. By halftime, however, the Bruins were down, 34-27, and trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half.

In their Jan. 13 meeting, a short fight broke out in the second half between USC’s Ebony Hoffman and UCLA’s Shalada Allen. Both served a one-game suspension. On Saturday, the only incident happened when Bruin guard Natalie Nakase was charged with a flagrant foul in the second half for knocking Cheeks into the basket’s support structure while Cheeks was shooting.

If Cheeks thought of retaliating, Hoffman made sure she didn’t get the chance, grabbing her and walking her around to the free-throw line.

Hoffman said there were plenty of leftover feelings from the first game.

“I’m not going to lie. There were a lot of feelings out there,” Hoffman said. “I knew they would come after me, try and aggravate me. I was trying to keep my cool.”

When Nakase was asked if there was remaining ill will, she coyly replied, “Maybe. After all, it is USC.”

Tiffany Elmore, who missed seven games because of a sprained ankle, returned to action Saturday for the Trojans.

Mike Terry

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Top 25

Nicole Powell had 23 points and 11 rebounds for No. 2 Stanford (24-1, 14-0), which clinched at least a share of the Pacific 10 Conference title by defeating Oregon State, 89-67, at Corvallis. The Beavers (13-12, 9-6) were led by Juleen Smith’s 18 points. ... Stacey Dales scored six of her 20 points in a decisive 14-2 surge and No. 4 Oklahoma (20-2, 10-1) defeated Texas A&M;, 67-51, in a Big 12 game at Norman, Okla., for its 19th consecutive home victory. LaToya Rose had 15 points to lead Texas A&M; (12-11, 4-7). ... Ayana Walker had 23 points and Catrina Frierson scored 21 for No. 8 Louisiana Tech (18-3, 13-0), which beat San Jose State (11-10, 6-6), 87-47, in a Western Athletic Conference game at Ruston, La....

Danielle Crockrom made 14 of 15 shots and scored 31 points and No. 10 Baylor (19-4, 7-4) beat No. 15 Texas Tech, 85-69, at Waco, Texas, to end the Lady Raiders’ 39-game winning streak in the series. Sheila Lambert added 22 points for Baylor. Amber Tarr led Texas Tech (14-8, 6-6) with 25 points.... Angie Welle had 24 points and a career-high 23 rebounds, leading No. 12 Iowa State (19-5, 7-5) to an 85-75 Big 12 victory over No. 13 Colorado (18-7, 6-4) at Ames, Iowa. A crowd of 13,312, the largest ever for a regular-season game at Iowa State, saw the Cyclones win for the fifth consecutive time and end Colorado’s eight-game winning streak. ... Heather Schreiber scored 16 points and No. 17 Texas (15-7, 7-5) ended a four-game losing streak with a 90-56 Big 12 victory over Oklahoma State (11-13, 3-8) at Austin, Texas.... Angie Gorton scored 18 points, including four free throws in the final 40 seconds, and No. 19 Colorado State (19-4) beat Brigham Young (15-7, 6-3), 75-65, in a Mountain West game at Fort Collins, Colo.

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Notes

Nevada Las Vegas’ Linda Frohlich and Petra Glaser were declared ineligible for Saturday night’s game at San Diego State. Glaser, a sophomore center, is ineligible for eight games for violating the NCAA’s rules on amateurism. UNLV officials determined she participated on a professional club team, BV Chemnitz, in her native Germany. Frohlich, a senior forward from Oldendorf, Germany, played for SC Rist Wedel before attending UNLV and could be ineligible for the season.