UCLA
Stanford
UCLA Packs Pauley Pavilion, Falls to Stanford 67-53
February 20, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2011
LOS ANGELES (AP and Bruin staff) - Faced with a rare close Pac-10 game at the half, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer implored Chiney Ogwumike to take over.
The freshman responded, scoring 13 of her 18 points in the second half and No. 3 Stanford beat ninth-ranked UCLA 67-53 on Sunday for its 18th straight victory.
"We made it clear at halftime to Chiney," VanDerveer said of the decision to get the younger Ogwumike the ball in the post. "This is what you have to do."
Ogwumike also had 15 rebounds, finishing 10 of 12 from the free throw line.
Kayla Pedersen and Toni Kokenis added 13 points each and Jeanette Pohlen had 10 for the Cardinal (24-2, 15-0 Pac-10), who were missing Chiney's older sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike because of a right ankle injury.
With a chance at ending Stanford's 52-game conference winning streak, the Bruins drew a season-high 6,725 fans but had their 13-game Pac-10 Conference home game win streak snapped by the Cardinal.
"We've got to make shots," coach Nikki Caldwell said. "We must have missed 20 layups."
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"They came out with a different sense of urgency than we did in the second half,"
UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell on Stanford's big second half
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The Bruins shot 31 percent (19 of 61) from the field, but only 28 percent in the second half of action.
"They came out with a different sense of urgency than we did the second half," Caldwell said of the Cardinal. "They did an unbelievable job of forcing us on our heels."
The message, Caldwell said, for her team was a simple one: "If you want to play with the big dogs, your big dogs have to show up. Stanford has done it over the years."
The game was tied at 30 early in the second half before Stanford went on a 12-2 run. Chiney Ogwumike started the burst with a three-point play. She added two more free throws off an offensive rebound that made it 40-32.
UCLA hung around and only trailed 51-44 after Jasmine Dixon's jumper with 6:15 left.
The Cardinal scored nine of the next 11 points and put the game away.
The Bruins kept it close Sunday for the first half with the game tied at 28 at the break. Neither team led by more than five points in the initial half of play, with Darxia Morris scoring 11 of her team-high 14 points before the break. However, Stanford pulled away in the second half behind Chiney Ogwumike.
Jasmine Dixon added 10 points and 12 rebounds for UCLA (22-3, 12-2). With her second assist in the contest, UCLA's Doreena Campbell became the fourth Bruin women to reach the 1,000-point, 400-rebound, 400-assist plateau. She joins Noelle Quinn, 2004-07; Nikki Blue 2003-06; and Ann Meyers, 1975-78 on that list.
