Pac-12: UCLA has late surge

Facing a surprisingly quick ouster, Jordin Canada and her UCLA teammates pulled it together down the stretch to pull out a victory.

Canada scored 27 points and No. 9 UCLA held California scoreless for more than two minutes late to escape with a 77-74 victory in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals on Friday at Seattle

Mikayla Cowling’s pull-up jumper put Cal up 69-68 with 2:40 remaining, but the Bruins responded with six consecutive points, going up 74-69 on two free throws by Canada with 38 seconds left.

“I’m really proud of our poise,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “We were down seven with 6:57 left to go in the game and then had nine out of 11 trips where we scored. I just thought we were led by our seniors, not only statistically, but in their poise and in their emotional leadership.”

UCLA (24-6) advanced to Saturday’s semifinals against Oregon, which defeated UCLA twice in conference play.

Cowling had 16 points and Asha Thomas and Kristine Anigwe added 15 apiece for Cal (21-10). Kelli Hayes and Monique Billings each added 18 points for UCLA.

The Bears, who won six of their final seven regular-season games, opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run, taking a 62-55 lead on a rebound putback by CJ West. UCLA capitalized on two turnovers to answer with 10 consecutive points to go back in front 65-62.

No. 6 Oregon 84, Colorado 47: Conference freshman of the year Satou Sabally scored 21 points and made five three-pointers in only 19 minutes for the Ducks (28-4), while Lexi Bando added 19 points. Oregon shot 56% from the field and 48% on three-pointers.