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Sports

UCLA routs Cal 63-50 to reach Pac-10 title game

Associated Press
Published | Updated

LOS ANGELES – Atonye Nyingifa had a season-high 17 points and nine rebounds, Darxia Morris added 14 points, and No. 7 UCLA easily advanced to the Pac-10 tournament title game with a 63-50 victory over California on Friday.

Doreena Campbell scored 12 points as the second-seeded Bruins (27-3) controlled almost every minute of yet another lopsided Pac-10 women's basketball matchup.

UCLA will meet No. 2 Stanford in Saturday's final, the seemingly inevitable end to a conference season in which the two schools thoroughly dominated play. The Cardinal beat the Bruins twice during the regular season, but UCLA won its other 16 league games.

Afure Jemerigbe scored 17 points for the rebuilding Golden Bears (17-15), who beat Washington and upset third-seeded Arizona State to reach the semifinals.

The Bruins executed their offense crisply and forced 19 turnovers, showing no ill effects from the double-bye awarded to the Pac-10's top two teams.

UCLA scored the game's first eight points and jumped ahead 11-1 in the first 4 minutes. The Bruins' lead never dipped below double digits for the final 31 minutes, although the Bruins made just one 3-pointer and had 14 turnovers of their own.

The Bears went 3 for 19 from 3-point range, and leading scorer DeNesha Stallworth managed just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting along with eight rebounds. Second-leading scorer Layshia Clarendon also struggled, going 0 for 6 — including four missed 3-point attempts — while battling foul trouble.

In coach Nikki Caldwell's third season, UCLA is just two wins shy of the school-record 29 victories by the 1980-81 team, with a high NCAA seed awaiting next week. Another historic achievement is available at Staples Center, however: The Bruins also are just one win away from just the second Pac-10 tournament title in school history.

But Stanford knocked the Bruins out of the Pac-10 tournament in each of Caldwell's first two seasons, including a 70-46 victory in last season's championship game at Staples. Stanford then easily handled the Bruins twice this season, including a 14-point win last month in Westwood without injured star forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike.

Although the Bears seem poised for a surge back to elite status next season with a lineup dominated by promising freshmen and sophomores, coach Joanne Boyle's squad wasn't ready to compete with UCLA or Stanford this season. Cal lost six of its final regular-season games, including a 24-point loss to Stanford in Berkeley, before its tournament surge.