11:50 am
Here I am at the Galen Center with my laptop and MiFi ready to tell you all about the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Ten minutes before game time, the Galen Center is sparsely occupied by two bands, two gaggles of cheer leaders and about 200 fans. So far I've seen just six from Stanford.
The first game between OSU and ASU is critical for the Sun Devils. They need to win this game and probably tomorrow's to get to the Big Dance. Only pride is at stake for the Beavers.
Arizona State 50, Oregon State 44
1:55 pm
This was a sloppy game. Lots of turnovers — forced and unforced. Lots of missed baskets — I'm guessing that the FG percentages were in the low 30s.
The Beavers held their own, and made the last 3 1/2 minutes exciting:
They had cut ASU's lead to three points.
Dymond Simon plowed through some tight defense under the basket for an and-one.
Sage Indendi sank a long two-pointer.
Becca Tobin dropped a pass.
OSU couldn't get past ASU's strong defense — shot clock expired.
ASU turned the ball over.
OSU turned the ball over.
Tenaya Watson took a long-g-g-g inbound pass to the basket.
That's all
Here's a game report.
Next game: Arizona vs Oregon.
Arizona 90, Oregon 89
5:25 pm
The second game was much faster and more exciting than the first one. Oregon was playing its usual fast and furious, but not very effective, game. Arizona was playing just as fast, but more carefully. By halftime the score was almost the same as the final of the first game,51-36.
Oregon shot better in the second half and whittled the lead down to one point with 4 1/2 minutes left to play. The margin fluctuated from one to three points until Oregon finally got the lead with two minutes left. Oregon was ahead by one at 0:30, and that's when it really got exciting:
There was a wild scramble for the ball and Oregon called a timeout
Oregon missed a shot, but got the O-board; Oregon called a timeout with 0:23 left
Arizona fouled Amanda Johnson, but she missed the one & one free throw
Arizona got the rebound. Davellyn Whyte made a fast break and scored. Arizona up by one.
Oregon fouled ???, who missed both free throws.
On the rebound, there was a held ball and Oregon got possession.
Oregon called another timeout with 0:04 left, just before a foul was called.
Oregon got the ball in, but missed their shot. Game over
Here's a game report.
Next game: USC vs Washington State
USC 78, Washington State 66
7:05 pm
USC kept their NCAA tournament hopes alive with a dominating win.
The outcome was never seriously in doubt, although WSU kept it fairly close.
The entertaining feature of this game was lots of dazzling plays — long threes, dramatic drives to the basket, fast breaks, impossible rebounds and a 40-ft buzzer-beater that ended the first half.
USC's star freshman, Cassie Harberts set a career high of 31 points that she'll be hard-put to break in the next three years.
Sadly, there weren't many fans present — it looked like about 300. And this was for the home team at their home court at 5:00. The Cardinal fans and their team are so lucky to have each other!
Here's a game report.
Next game: Cal vs Washington
Cal 58, Washington 48
9:55 pm
This was the closest game of the day — for three quarters. The lead was never more than two, as far as I recall, until the last nine minutes.
Then either Washington ran out of gas or Cal hustled harder or both, and Cal pulled ahead for what ended up seeming like an easy win.
It's quite surprising that Cal actually won this one. They made just 39% of their free throws and one of about a dozen three-pointers. But they out-rebounded Washington by a lot, in spite of the efforts of Regina Rogers and Mackenzie Argens.
I found it interesting that DeNesha Stallworth, who the Cardinal held to just two points this season, was Cal's second-highest scorer tonight.
Here's a game report.
Finis
Four games — a great day for a basketball junkie!
The seedings held. #s 3, 4, 5 and 6 go on to the second round tomorrow: ASU vs Cal, Arizona vs USC.
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