UCLA women nearly waste lead but beat Arizona, 68-59

Freshman Nina Earl had career highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds, including two key free throws, and UCLA held on for a 68-59 victory over Arizona on Sunday at Tucson.

Earl had 10 of the Bruins’ initial 15 second-half points, including a layup with 10 minutes 3 seconds remaining to give UCLA, 6-7 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference, a 57-39 lead.

Arizona rallied, cutting the lead to five on an Ashley Whisonant reverse layup with 3:28 remaining, capping a 14-2 run.

Earl made two free throws with 3:10 remaining to halt Arizona’s run. Tierra Henderson added two more free throws to extend the Bruins’ lead to 63-54.

Whisonant led Arizona (6-7, 0-2) with 17 points.

Arizona State 66, USC 63 -- Lauren Lacey scored 16 points, Sybil Dosty added 15 and the Sun Devils held off the Trojans at Tempe, Ariz.

Dymond Simon made two free throws with 23 seconds left after the USC had rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit to cut the lead to 62-60 with 1:05 left.

After the free throws, USC’s Camille LeNoir was called for traveling. Arizona State (8-5, 2-0) made two of four free throws and LeNoir made a three-point basket at the buzzer. Nadia Parker scored 22 points to lead USC (8-5, 1-1).

No. 22 George Washington 82, Pepperdine 68 -- Jessica Adair scored 25 points to lead the Colonials past the Waves at Washington. Sarah-Jo Lawrence added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists for George Washington (10-3). Jessica Ross scored 17 points for Pepperdine (5-6), which has lost four in a row.

MEN

UC Irvine 80, Harvard 77 -- Darren Fells scored 24 points, Patrick Sanders had 13 and the Anteaters rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat the Crimson in overtime at Boston.

Sanders also had three blocks, four rebounds and two assists for Irvine (5-8).

Harvard (4-11) led, 33-24, at halftime and went up by as many as 18 in the second half.

Sam Houston State 83, Loyola Marymount 66 -- Ryan Bright scored 17 points and DeLuis Ramirez and Shamir McDaniel added 16 points apiece to lift the Bearkats (11-1) past the Lions (3-11) at Gersten Pavilion.