UCLA came into Monday’s game with a bit of a chip on its collective shoulder.
Stanford was still feeling the effects of an emotional win and a coaching milestone.
Erica McCall recorded a double-double, five Stanford players reached double figures in scoring and the eighth-ranked Cardinal still lost to No. 14 UCLA, 85-76, in a Pac-12 women’s basketball game Monday night.
Except for the second quarter, the Bruins (18-5, 9-3) controlled the tempo, played more aggressively and made all the right plays down the stretch.
Stanford (20-4, 10-2) wasn’t playing poorly, just inconsistently and a late run fell short.
“It was a tough night for our team,” Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said. “UCLA is an excellent team and they were coming off a loss. They were very aggressive and very motivated.”
The Bruins, who beat a ranked opponent on the road for the first time, weren’t going to argue that point.
“Losing Friday we knew we had to get a bounce back game,” UCLA guard Jordin Canada said. “I know we’ve struggled on the road against good teams. We were more focused this game.”
Canada scored a game-high 25 points and added five assists but the biggest key for UCLA was the play of Monique Billings, who scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
She recorded four blocked shots and her presence affected Stanford’s inside game. She forced players to alter the way they drove to the basket.
“Mo is a beast,” Canada said. “Her shot blocking, her ability to rebound and her overall athleticism is a big, big, big help.”
Erica McCall had to do everything she could to scored 14 points and grab 12 rebounds. UCLA played her aggressively, trying to deny her the ball.
Karlie Samuelson led the Cardinal with 15 points and seven assists, Alanna Smith came off the bench and produced 14 points and six rebounds and Brittany McPhee had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Senior guard Bri Roberson scored her 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from long range.
Stanford got off to dreadful starts in each the first and third quarters, shooting a combined .222 (8-of-36) from the floor in those periods.
The Cardinal rallied from 12 points down in the first quarter and took a 40-37 lead into halftime.
Stanford’s fourth-quarter rally wasn’t enough as Billings made four big plays on successive possessions with just under two minutes to play.
She hit a turnaround jumper to make it 76-68 in favor of the Bruins, and then blocked a shot that went into the backcourt and was picked up by by UCLA.
Billings then grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds that allowed the Bruins to control the ball for more than a minute.
Nicole Kornet went 6-for-6 and Canada was 2-for-2 from the foul line over the final 32 seconds.
“Most of the time the team that is most aggressive will get to the foul line more,” VanDerveer said. “They were more aggressive and we were a step slow on defense. Against a team like this you need 40 minutes. You can’t just pick and choose which quarter to play hard.”
Stanford remains at home this weekend, hosting Colorado at 8 p.m. Friday and Utah at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Fencing
Led by two-time Olympian Alexander Massialas, the Stanford men’s and women’s fencing teams had a successful weekend competing in the Northwestern Duals.
The No. 9 men’s team compiled a 6-5 record against 11 opponents, as Massialas won 20 of 24 bouts in foil. The women’s team recorded a 6-7 mark.
More importantly, all Cardinal fencers in all three weapons qualified for the NCAA Western Regionals at Stanford on March 11.
“Everyone put in extra effort and pushed through,” said co-head coach Lisa Posthumus. “They fenced from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days against some of the best teams in the country. I was very pleased with our performance.”
Massialas, a fifth-year senior from San Francisco, won two medals in Rio and recently captured a gold medal at the Paris World Cup. He’s also a two-time NCAA foil champion.
Other men’s standouts for the Cardinal in South Bend included Darren Mei in foil (18-4), Jeffrey Dalli in sabre (19-12), and Sean Strong in epee (16-10).
For the women, Eliza Klyce posted a 13-8 finish in foil; Amanda Han (18-14) and Chantel Yang (17-15) shined in epee; and Valerie Garcia (14-14), Carly Weber-Levine (12-12) and Alexa Rohan (11-11) excelled in sabre.