Crown the Cardinal
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Kiana Williams scored 26 points to lead No. 4 Stanford to the Pac 12 Tournament championship with a 75-55 win over No. 9 UCLA on Sunday night.
Stanford, which has made the Pac-12 championship game 18 times in 20 total tournaments, improved to 14-4 in the finals while winning its third title in five years.
Lexie Hull added 24 points while Haley Jones finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford (25-2).
Michaela Onyenwere led UCLA (16-5) with 30 points. Charisma Osborne finished with 11 points and five rebounds for the Bruins.
The game was a renewal of one of the more storied rivalries in Pac 12 postseason history, as Stanford has played UCLA more than any other team in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Cardinal improved to 11-1 against the Bruins in the event - including four wins in championship meetings.
Stanford controlled things in the first half, with a balanced attack led by Williams and Hull. The Cardinal used runs of 12-5 in the first quarter and 11-3 to start the second quarter to eventually take a 23-point lead into halftime.
Onyenwere was UCLA's only bright spot in the first half, scoring 13 points. She was 5-for-11 from the floor while the rest of the team was 2-of-15 (.133).
UCLA began to claw its way back into the game after Williams' 3-pointer gave Stanford its biggest lead, 26, with 9:19 left in the third quarter. Riding the hot hand of Onyenwere, the Bruins went on a 20-6 run to get within 12 just before the end of the third quarter.
Stanford regained its composure and managed to build a 16-point lead midway through the fourth quarter behind a nine-point spurt from Hull, and the Cardinal never looked back.
The Cardinal earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, and will await its seeding Selection Monday, March 15.
Stanford controlled things in the first half, with a balanced attack led by Williams and Hull. The Cardinal used runs of 12-5 in the first quarter and 11-3 to start the second quarter to eventually take a 23-point lead into halftime.
Onyenwere was UCLA's only bright spot in the first half, scoring 13 points. She was 5-for-11 from the floor while the rest of the team was 2-of-15 (.133).
"I'm much more disappointed that we played so below our process and commitment to what we said we were going to do, and the lack of urgency, commitment to the game plan, rebounding," UCLA coach Cori Close said. "I mean, we just didn't do anything in the first half that we said we were going to do. And that is the one that really stings."
UCLA began to claw its way back into the game after Williams' 3-pointer gave Stanford its biggest lead at 26 with 9:19 left in the third quarter and got within 12 after a 20-6 run. But Stanford regained its composure, built a 16-point lead midway through the fourth quarter behind a nine-point spurt from Hull, and never looked back to seal the win. Stanford shot 80% in the fourth quarter.
"Today we showed some toughness against a very, very good team," VanDerveer said.
BIG PICTURE
UCLA: The struggle to find offense, and defend the Cardinal, must have left Close with a difficult decision on how to use starter Natalie Chou. The senior guard was a defensive stopper in the team's first two games, came in with a team second-best 35 steals, and was the Bruins' third-leading scorer with 10.3 points per game. Chou, who averaged a little more than 30 minutes per game, played 10 minutes in the first half and finished with 26.
Stanford: Williams was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after finishing with 49 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in three games. Williams, who can opt-in for another senior season, was 12 of 18 from 3-point range and is now one 3-pointer shy of Candice Williams' career record of 295.
ALL-TOURNAMENT
Hull and teammate Cameron Brink, Onyenwere, Arizona's Aari McDonald and Oregon State's Aleah Goodman were named to the all-tournament team.