Bruins Finally Streak by Cardinal

The streak is over. And for UCLA, lodged in the middle of the Pacific 10 Conference standings, it could not have come at a better time.

The Bruins ended nearly six years of frustration and 14 consecutive losses to Stanford on Friday night by finally defeating the 11th-ranked Cardinal, 90-80, at Pauley Pavilion.

Stanford (13-5 overall, 8-2 Pac-10) never led and trailed UCLA (11-8, 6-4) by as many as 15 points in the first half. The 90 points were the most scored against the Cardinal this season.

Junior forward Noelle Quinn led UCLA with 25 points and 10 rebounds as she passed the 1,000-point milestone, the 22nd Bruin woman to reach that total. She has 1,021. Senior guard Nikki Blue had 24 points and six assists.

Before Friday, UCLA”s last victory over Stanford came on March 3, 2000, also at Pauley Pavilion.

“[The losing streak] was all we talked about this week and how we wanted to win,” Blue said. “I’d never beaten Stanford, and it was very important our senior year to get one ‘W’ against Stanford.

“We stopped the streak, and I’m so glad we did.”

Stanford stars Candice Wiggins and Brooke Smith -- each with 26 points -- were impressive against UCLA, shooting a combined 17 for 36 overall. Smith added 17 rebounds; and Wiggins, a sophomore who had only five points in the first half, ended up by increasing her career total to 999.

But the Bruin defense limited the remaining Cardinal players to 12-for-33 shooting.

“As a staff we thought [that game plan] was our best chance,” UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier said. “At Stanford we doubled Brooke a lot, and Stanford is very good at spacing and making the extra pass. This game we decided if Brooke gets hers, let’s make sure we defend everybody else.”

The Bruins got off to a hot start, making 11 of their first 16 shots to open a 27-16 lead. By halftime, their edge was 46-32, and that was a good omen for UCLA. It was the fourth game this season that the Bruins had scored 46 points in the first half, and they had won the previous three times, against Georgia, UC Irvine and Pepperdine.

Stanford tried to make runs in the second half, but did not get closer than nine points.

“I want to compliment UCLA. They’ve been up and down, but this game showed what they are capable of,” Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said

“I told our team we were exposed as a non-gritty team. We need to get in the trenches and get serious. And do things that are blue-collar. We didn’t do the defensive work we needed to do, and that fueled UCLA’s offense.”

UCLA was without reserve center Consuelo Lezcano, who returned Sunday to Marathon, Fla., for the funeral of her father, Carlos.

California 72, No. 23 USC 67 -- Alexis Gray-Lawson scored 19 points, including four three-pointers, to lead the Bears (14-6, 6-4) over the Trojans (13-6, 7-3) at the Lyon Center. USC outrebounded Cal, 40-31, but shot 41% overall, compared with the Bears’ 52%.

Chloe Kerr led USC with 18 points, 12 in the second half. The loss ends USC’s five-game winning streak.

Cal led by as many as 10 in the second half, but USC cut its deficit to three in the final minute only to have the Bears make free throws and pull away.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.