By Tony Solorzano
(Los Angeles) – As the first day of the Pacific Life Pac-10 Basketball Tournament came to a close, two more teams advanced to Thursday’s Quarterfinal matchups. Like the battles between the Arizona and Oregon schools that highlighted the early games, the Washington schools were in action against half of California as USC dispatched Washington State 78-66 and Cal knocked off Washington 58-48 Wednesday night at the Galen Center. On Thursday, Cal will face the Sun Devils with the winner taking on second-seeded UCLA while Arizona and USC face off for the right to face top-seeded Stanford.
USC 78, Washington State 66: Freshman Cassie Heberts scored a career high 31 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as the Women of Troy (19-11) eliminated the Cougars barely a week after surviving a hard-fought skirmish on the same court. Although they were still missing guard Ashley Corral, who missed the game due to a two-game suspension for violating team rules, senior center Kari LaPlante tossed in 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds while junior guard Jackie Gemelos contributed 13 points and nine rebounds in the win. The Cougars were led by guard Jazmine Perkins who nailed 17 points and 11 rebounds, while freshman Sage Romberg added 15 points.
Cal 58, Washington 48: The Golden Bears endured a first-half slugfest with the Huskies before finally pulling away early in the second half. Sophomores Layshia Clarendon and Talia Caldwell contributed double-doubles with Clarendon leading all scorers with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Caldwell added 11 points and 13 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. Sophomore DeNesha Stallworth also shot in double figures, going six of 12 from the field for 12 points. Juniors Kristi Kingma and Mackenzie Argens led the Huskies in the losing effort with 10 points each.
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