March 03, 2016

Pac-12 Tournament, First Round

Anticipation

Tournament info:

Commentary from the media:

#7 Utah 63, #10 California 66

Cal squeaked past Utah in overtime, in a game that featured many turnovers and rushed shots on both sides.

Utah led through most of regulation time. The short-handed Golden Bears, playing only seven players, managed to catch up late in the fourth quarter and tie it at 53-53. Then Kristine Anigwe fouled out.

Twenty seconds later, the Utes' Emily Potter also fouled out, and Cal managed to maintain the tie to the buzzer, going into overtime with only six players, and Gabby Green with four fouls.

The score was still tied 63-63 with less than a minute to go. Mikayla Cowling hit a jumper to put Cal up and the Utes turned the ball over and fouled. One made free throw put Cal up by three with seconds to play. The Utes turned the ball over again without a shot and Cal had the win.

Here are game reports:

Highlights: California, Cowling sinks Utah in overtime in Pac-12 Tournament opener

And the box score and play-by-play.

#6 Oregon 68, #11 Arizona 74

Arizona had won only three conference games this season and wasn't expected to win this one The first quarter went to expectations, with the Ducks leading from the start. 6-5 Jacinta Vandenberg was doing well in the post, taking the place of the missing Jillian Alleyne.

But just at the end of that first quarter, Arizona hit a three. And then just into the second quarter, another to tie the score, and then another to take a lead.

In fact, Arizona dominated the second quarter 22-7 and went into the locker room up 36-24, having hit six of seven three-point attempts, with threes from four players.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Arizona was shooting at a 53% pace. No other stat was in their favor; but putting the ball in the basket is the name of the game, and that they were doing very well.

Oregon showed some life in the final quarter, closing to within six more than once, but Vandenberg fouled out with a minute-forty to go, and the Ducks couldn't close the gap.

Here are game reports:

Highlights: Arizona women's basketball outshoots Oregon in Pac-12 Tournament

And the box score and play-by-play.

#8 USC 77, #9 Washington State 73

This was a very entertaining game, played at a fast, even frantic, pace with lots of missed shots and turnovers — 20 in the first half, 34 in the game.

It was also a very close game, the largest lead being 5 points. Both teams had such a lead at least once, but more often the lead was one or two.

The first half looked like ending in a tie, but WSU grabbed a rebound with 11 seconds left and sank a three to make it 34-31.

The second half was like the first, fast and athletic. Much of the action was in the paint, both teams driving and making layups.

The score was tied 70-70 with a minute to play; then USC got a lead. WSU had chances to tie the score in the final minute, but missed critical free throws and couldn't close the deal.

Here are game reports:

Game highlights: USC edges WSU in round one of Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament

And the box score and play-by-play.

#5 Washington 67, #12 Colorado 51

Colorado is the twelfth seed and has lost to almost everyone in the conference except Cal, and in fact lost to Washington by nearly 20 points just a week ago. Given that, there was every reason to expect a Washington win.

In fact, the game opened with an 11-3 Huskie run, during which the Buffs were 1-10 in field goals. Colorado pulled itself together from that cold start and the first quarter ended at 18-12.

In the second quarter UW went to a zone defense and began pulling away, ending the half at 40-23.

The Huskies continued the zone defense and the Buffs continued to struggle against it, but in fact they managed to play UW even, lessening the deficit by one point in the second half.

Although they played with enthusiasm throughout, the only skill in which Colorado could match UW was rebounding, where they were exactly equal at 37. Aside from that, Washington looked like a strong opponent for Stanford tomorrow night.

Here are game reports:

Game highlights: Washington women's basketball moves on with win over Colorado

And the box score and play-by-play.

Finis

The Quarterfinal games tomorrow are:

#2 Arizona State vs #10 California at 11:30 am
#3 UCLA vs #11 Arizona at 2:00 pm
#1 Oregon State vs #8 USC at 6:00 pm
#4 Stanford vs #5 Washington at 8:30 pm

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