Bruins fall to Stanford, but pull out victory over Golden Bears

  TYSON EVANS Junior Jalina Bradley dishes
a behind-the-back pass against Stanford on Sunday, yet the Bruins
lost the game, 98-80. Stanford 98 UCLA 80

By Bruce Tran
Daily Bruin Contributor

The Stanford women’s basketball team seems to have it all
this season. High ranking? Check ““ the Cardinal are No. 2 in
the nation. Height advantage? Check ““ the Stanford starting
lineup averages 6-foot-1 while the Bruin starting lineup averages
5-foot-9. Balanced offensive attack? Check ““ the Nicole
Powell-Lindsey Yamasaki duo is the Kobe-Shaq duo of the Pac-10, and
they both average around 16 points a game.

Sunday, the Cardinal showed what all the hype was about, as
Stanford continued its dominant play in routing the Bruins, 98-80.
UCLA finishes with a 4-14 record in Pac-10 play, while Stanford
concludes a perfect Pac-10 season ““ 18-0.

“We were a little intimidated at the beginning, but once
we got over that, we settled down and played hard,” UCLA head
coach Kathy Olivier said. “But they were just hitting
everything. A big reason they’re a top team in the nation is
because of Yamasaki. She showed unbelievable senior leadership
today.”

Stanford’s hot shooting proved to be UCLA’s demise,
as the Cardinal shot 50.7 percent from the field, including 59.3
percent from three-point range. Yamasaki led the way with 33
points, one shy of her career high, and hit 7 of 10 three-point
attempts.

On a positive note for the Bruins, for the first time in quite
some time, the Bruin offense finally started to click. Sophomore
guard Gennifer Arranaga continued her stellar play with 21 points,
and four other Bruins finished in double figures.

“Nothing’s different, except that, mentally,
I’ve been into it,” Arranaga said. “I just want
to do what I know how to do, and my thing is to run, and with
running, other things happen.”

Friday, in a preview of the first-round of the Pac-10 Tournament
this coming Friday, the Bruins took care of Cal, 58-48, in a
defensive contest. While the Bruins only shot 33.8 percent from the
field, the Golden Bears did even worse, converting on only 22.6
percent of their field goal attempts.

“We feel we’re a better team than UCLA, but we just
were out-competed, out-hustled and out-played,” Cal head
coach Caren Horsymeyer said. “We haven’t played with
any fire for the last couple of games now.”

UCLA took a 32-25 lead into halftime and never looked back,
pushing the lead to 13 points with 4:05 left in the game. Forward
Whitney Jones and center Shalada Allen chipped in with 12 points
apiece. Allen also snared a career-high 14 rebounds.

UCLA now looks ahead to its rematch against the Golden Bears in
the first round of the Pac-10 tournament. If their last game was
any indication, it will be a hard-fought, tough-nosed defensive
affair.

“Cal plays completely different than Stanford,”
Olivier said. “We’ve played Cal twice, so we know what
to expect against them. We’re just going to go out, and
we’re going to go out hard, and hopefully, we’ll come
up with a victory.”