Cameron Brink, No. 4 Stanford cruise to dominant 80-60 win over No. 7 UCLA
No. 4 Stanford had absolutely no issue getting past the Bruins on Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinal rolled to a dominant 80-60 win over No. 7 UCLA at Maples Pavilion in what was a huge bounceback win from their loss to No. 15 USC on Friday night.
Stanford wasted no time on Sunday, either. The Cardinal opened the game on a 13-4 tear, and held the Bruins to just 12 points in the opening quarter — all but two of which were scored by Charisma Osborne. Stanford shot 9-of-13 from the field as a team in the first quarter, and then opened the second period on a huge 10-2 run.
By halftime, the Cardinal had taken a massive 18-point lead. They scored 32 of their 45 first-half points in the paint and outrebounded UCLA by eight in the first 20 minutes. The Bruins just couldn’t hold their own inside without star forward Lauren Betts, who was out again due to an injury, and it showed.
Though UCLA kept things a bit closer in the second half, it was far too late to make a difference. The Cardinal took a 23-point advantage into the fourth quarter before holding on for the 20-point win.
Cameron Brink led Stanford with 19 points and 19 rebounds in the win. She shot 8-of-10 from the field, too. Kiki Iriafen added 18 points and seven rebounds, and Hannah Jump finished with 10 points. Stanford shot 5-of-8 from behind the arc and outrebounded UCLA, 44-29. Iriafen and Brink combined for seven blocks in the win, too, including back-to-back blocks from Brink to close out the first quarter.
You’re invited and it’s a BLOCK PARTY 🎉 @cameronbrink22 #NCAAWBB x 🎥 ESPN2 / @StanfordWBB
pic.twitter.com/h3qS3XRxy1— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) February 4, 2024
Stanford improved to 20-3 with the win, and it managed to get through the weekend with at least one huge win over a Los Angeles school. USC, led by a program-record 51-point night from star freshman JuJu Watkins, picked up a 67-58 upset win on Friday in the Bay Area. Watkins scored all but 16 of USC’s points in the win. Stanford will take on both Washington and Washington State on the road next week.
Osborne finished with 13 points in the loss for UCLA. Londynn Jones also finished with 13 points and three assists. They were the only two Bruins players to hit double figures, and the team shot less than 30% from the field as a unit.
UCLA, which has now lost four of its last seven games, dropped to 17-4 on the season after Sunday’s loss. The Bruins will host Arizona and Arizona State next week before traveling to No. 18 Oregon State on Feb. 16.
Though Stanford won’t see either USC or UCLA again in the regular season, a matchup against either in the Pac-12 tournament next month should make for an incredibly entertaining battle in the conference’s final season together.