UCLA
Stanford
UCLA Upsets No. 2 Stanford 69-56
January 04, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2008
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- After coming close against Tennessee and Maryland, UCLA broke through against Stanford.
Darxia Morris scored 20 points, Lindsey Pluimer added 12 and the Bruins upset the second-ranked Cardinal 69-56 Friday night for the first victory over a top-two team in school history.
"We're fed up with playing with the best and not being able to finish the job," Pluimer said. "We learned from those games. You could tell by how we used the clock and were patient. All those came from the Maryland and Tennessee games."
The Bruins (7-7, 2-1 Pac-10) led virtually the entire game against a Cardinal team that had been blowing out opponents by an average of 20.2 points.
"Our team is fearless," UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said.
UCLA's only other win against a team ranked higher than fourth was 63-60 over No. 3 Texas on Nov. 28, 2004.
The Bruins jumped and shouted at midcourt in front of 1,325 fans after the final buzzer, then ran screaming into their locker room.
"It was pretty rowdy in there," Pluimer said.
The Bruins came within nine in the second half against then-No. 1 Tennessee and led then-No. 4 Maryland by 16 points before losing.
"We can't just almost beat a top team," Morris said. "We got to make a name for ourselves."
Candice Wiggins had 29 points and 10 rebounds and Jayne Appel added 17 points for Stanford (12-2, 2-1), which had its nine-game winning streak snapped. Kayla Pedersen added 13 rebounds, but was held to two points -- 11 below her average.
"It's one game, it's early in the Pac-10 season," Wiggins said. "The shots just didn't fall for us. It's hard playing on the road. You have to definitely provide your own energy because the crowd is not going to provide that."
Wiggins sprained her jaw in the first half, but said she was fine after the game.
After trailing by 16 points, the Cardinal rallied to get within seven twice in the final 8 1/2 minutes. Wiggins scored 10 straight points, but the Cardinal were doomed by 17.6 percent shooting in the half, when they made just six field goals. For the game, they shot a season-low 29 percent.
"It was just mental focus," Appel said. "We should've picked it up. It's disappointing. We'll learn a lot from it."
The Cardinal missed open shots and committed more of their 18 turnovers before being forced to foul down the stretch.
"We didn't have the energy we needed. We missed an incredible number of point-blank shots," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "Our turnovers really hurt us."
UCLA's bench outscored Stanford's reserves 20-6 and scored 22 points off Cardinal turnovers.
The Bruins dominated the start of the second half, running their lead to 50-34 while Stanford stumbled with four turnovers and 0-for-7 shooting. Pluimer scored off Morris' steal, then Nina Earl hit a layin off a give-and-go with Morris.
Morris beat the shot clock with a jumper that made it 57-42.
Then the Cardinal got rolling with eight straight points. Appel hit two free throws and Wiggins scored six in a row capped by a 3-pointer to cut Stanford's deficit to seven.
"We definitely had a chance," Appel said. "We didn't take advantage of it."
The Bruins led most of the first half, with their biggest lead being 11 points. The Cardinal was plagued by 10 turnovers and 40 percent field-goal shooting.
Stanford outscored UCLA 13-8 to end the half, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Wiggins and JJ Hones, but the Bruins went into the break ahead 38-34. Chinyere Ibekwe scored their final two baskets, hitting a bank shot that caused her to throw her arms up in amazement.
