Cardinal stuffs the Bears

The Cardinal didn't keep their fans in suspense in today's Pac-10 Tournament quarterfinal game against Cal. They began with a two-point lead on Nneka's jumper and steadily increased it to 20 points and a 64-44 victory.

The second quarterfinal between UCLA and USC started out much the same with UCLA dominating. The Bruins' defense kept the Trojans from penetrating to the basket and the Trojan's shots from the perimeter kept missing. With a minute left to play in the first half, the Bruins were shooting 48% to the Trojan's 21% and were ahead by 11 points.

Then things turned around and the Trojans crept back into the game. The scoring differential varied from 0-3 points for most of a very exciting second half. The Bruins summoned an extra bit of energy in the last minute and ended with a 59-53 victory. Here is a report of that game.

I estimate the attendance was about 2000, with roughly half of them (the loudest half, by far) Bruins' fans.

So it's Stanford vs UCLA in the tournament final tomorrow.

Before returning to an account of the Stanford/Cal game, I'll say something about the accident that happened with about six minutes left to play. During an attempted rebound by a half-dozen players, Alexis Gray-Lawson fell to the floor and stayed there for several minutes before being taken out on a stretcher. She was later reported to be conscious and able to move, but complained that her neck hurt. Here is an account of the accident posted about two hours after it happened.

Now, back to the Stanford/Cal game.

Nneka again led all scorers with 18 points. She also had 10 rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.

Kayla was close behind with nine points, nine rebounds, four assists and a steal.

Ros had hot hands today. She scored ten points – two 3-pointers and a couple of beautiful drive-to-the-basket layups.

Jeanette continued her stellar ball-handling – five assists with just one turnover. She also scored five points and had five rebounds.

Jayne rested her ankle again today. She did not start, but subbed in fairly early and played 19 minutes. She scored seven points and had two rebounds, two assists, a block and two steals.

Everyone played at least three minutes today. In addition to Jayne, the bench played 57 minutes and contributed seven points, including Mikaela's first collegiate 3-pointer.

Here are the game reports:

• Stanford Crushes Cal 64-44, Closes in on Conference Championship from the Associated Press
• Cardinal in women's final; Bears' star hurt by Tom FitzGerald, San Francisco Chronicle
• Gray-Lawson Carted Off in Semifinal Loss to Stanford by Caroline Ogawa, The Daily Californian
• Card cruises to easy victory, advances to Pac-10 final by Tom Taylor, The Stanford Daily

The box score and play-by-play,

And some photos:

Kayla gets inside for a shot Ros and Nneka force a turnover Kayla battles for a rebound Michelle is triple-teamed