Stanford 83 UCLA 69
By Will Whitehorn
Daily Bruin Contributor
PALO ALTO, Calif. “”mdash; The Bay Area was unkind to the UCLA
women’s basketball team this weekend.
UCLA (4-24, 3-14 Pac-10) matched Stanford (17-10, 11-6) shot for
shot for most of the game Saturday before suffering an 83-69
setback at noisy Maples Pavilion.
An emotional pre-game ceremony honoring Cardinal senior forward
Sarah Dimson and center Carolyn Moos, who were playing their final
games at home, brought a loud crowd of 5,021 to their feet. The
Bruins nearly crashed their party.
UCLA jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead, quieting the arena before
enduring an 8-0 Cardinal run. Junior guard Michelle Greco ended the
run with a three-pointer that set the tone for a busy first 20
minutes.
Greco came out on fire, scoring 10 of the Bruins first 15
points. She received help from forwards Whitney Jones and Kristee
Porter. Jones contributed three huge three-pointers on the night,
while Porter had back-to-back jumpers that kept the game close
early on, and showed marked improvement from the foul line.
Both teams were deadly from beyond the arc. The Bruins hit three
of their first four three-point attempts, including two by Greco.
Stanford countered with five treys for the half, including two from
junior forward Lindsey Yamasaki.
The three-point barrage was part of a wild first half that
featured nine ties and eight lead changes, the last of which came
on a Greco jumper that put the Bruins up 43-42 at the break.
Stanford opened the second half on a 10-4 run to take a 52-47
lead, but the tenacious Bruins would not go away. UCLA countered
with an 8-0 run of its own to grab a 55-52 edge.
UCLA led by as many as five, 59-54, late in the contest before
Stanford clawed its way back to grab a 61-59 lead, largely by
passing inside to 6-7 center Cori Enghusen, who finished with 12
points.
UCLA remained within two points inside the two-minute mark,
before a three-pointer by Cardinal junior forward Enjoli Izidor
helped give Stanford a five-point cushion that proved
insurmountable.
The Bruins could not convert on the offensive end and were
forced to foul Stanford to stop the clock, putting Stanford at the
foul line and inflating a final score that was not indicative of
how tight the game was.
“I was proud of our team,” said Head Coach Kathy
Olivier. “They did a very good job of playing up to the
challenge of being on the road against a very good basketball
team.”
The loss overshadows the performances of Bruin sophomore guard
Natalie Nakase, who had a career-high nine assists, and from Greco,
who finished with a game-high 20 points despite being held to just
six in the second half.
“In the first half I got a lot more easy looks,”
Greco said. “In the second half, I think they realized they
had to watch me a little more.”
The loss is the Bruins’ third in a row after a 70-68 win
over Oregon on Feb. 23. The Stanford win completed a season sweep
of the Bruins.