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