No. 9 Oregon women beat No. 14 UCLA, stay undefeated in Pac-12
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Ruthy Hebard scored 19 points, Sabrina Ionescu had 18 and Maite Cazorla 17 in No. 9 Oregon’s 70-61 victory over No. 14 UCLA on Sunday night.
The Ducks (15-2, 4-0) won for the seventh consecutive game and remained perfect in conference play.
Oregon senior Lexi Bando hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 58 seconds left to give the Ducks a 63-59 lead and iced the game with a pair of free throws with 40 seconds left. Bando has the best active career 3-point shooting percentage in the NCAA at 45.7.
The Bruins (11-4, 2-2) had won a school-record 20 consecutive home Pac-12 games.
Monqiue Billings led UCLA with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Jordin Canada added 19 points.
Oregon opened on a 9-0 run. UCLA didn’t score for the first 6:47 of the game but rallied. Canada ended the drought with a long range jumper from the right wing.
Oregon led 27-23 at halftime despite committing 12 turnovers.
UCLA took its first lead of the game at 34-31 on a Japreece Dean 3-pointer with 6:38 left in the third quarter. UCLA held its last lead at 59-58 before a free throw and Bando’s big 3-pointer.
BIG PICTURE
Oregon: The Ducks proved to be the team to beat in the conference after sweeping USC and UCLA on their Los Angeles road trip.
UCLA: The Bruins played a ranked opponent – all Pac-12 teams – for the third consecutive game. Winning two of three isn’t bad and this should help their strength of schedule for the NCAA Tournament
UP NEXT
Oregon: Hosts Arizona on Friday night.
UCLA: Plays at Utah on Friday night.
___
More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25