LOS ANGELES – Darxia Morris scored 21 points and Atonye Nyingifa added 16 as No. 11 UCLA beat Arizona State 70-60 on Thursday night.
Morris and Nyingifa combined to score 25 of UCLA's 38 points after halftime. Morris hit seven of 10 shots overall and Nyingifa finished 6 of 8 from the floor.
The Bruins (17-2, 7-1 Pac-10) put on the clamps defensively to limit Arizona State to just 34 percent shooting.
Jasmine Dixon had 10 points and Rebekah Gardner scored nine for the Bruins, who never trailed in beating the Sun Devils for the third straight time.
Dymond Simon scored 20 points but was the lone player in double figures for Arizona State (12-6, 4-4).
With the lead well in hand, UCLA emptied its bench in the closing minutes and the game wasn't as close as the final score indicates.
It was the Bruins' 11th straight conference home win since a 65-61 loss to Stanford in January 2010.
Trailing by as many as 21, the Sun Devils forged a comeback bid with a 7-0 spurt that cut the lead to 48-35 on Simon's layup with 9:36 remaining. Morris, however, hit a 3-pointer and a jumper on consecutive possessions to push the advantage to 52-37.
Play was stopped 5 minutes into the second half when Dixon took a shot to the face from Kali Bennett, who was converting a layup. Dixon went to the floor for a brief period and slowly made her way to the bench as referees reviewed the play.
They ruled that the basket stood but called a flagrant foul on Bennett, after which Dixon converted both free throws for a 40-24 lead.
The Bruins gained all the separation they would need early on. Following a 3-pointer by Simon that tied the score, UCLA used a run of 10 straight points that was capped by Dixon's jumper to take a 17-7 lead.
The Sun Devils made just six baskets and shot 25 percent in the first half. They trailed 30-18 at the break.
(This version updates throughout with corrected spelling of Atonye)
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