Cardinal defeat UCLA, capture Pac-12 Tournament title - Mar 11, 2013

SEATTLE What. A. Finish.

For the seventh consecutive year, Stanford is the Pac-12 Womens Basketball Tournament champion, topping UCLA 51-49 in Sundays thrilling championship final at KeyArena.

The game boiled down to each teams final possession.

UCLAs Markel Walker made a layup that tied the score at 49 with :36 left on the clock. Stanford guard Amber Orrange brought the ball up the floor and drained 29 seconds off the clock before dropping in a twisting layup between two defenders to give Stanford the 51-49 lead.

Walker pushed the ball back up the floor, but her layup attempt rolled off the front rim and out of bounds with 0.2 ticks remaining. A last-gasp UCLA inbounds play landed in Nirra Fields hands, but the freshman couldnt get a shot off before time expired.

Game over and another title for Stanford. But UCLA sure made them work for it, outrebounding the Cardinal 41-33 and dominating long stretches of the game.

My heart just hurts for our seniors, because I felt like they gave so much of themselves out on that basketball game today, UCLA coach Cori Close said.

Its hard for them not to be rewarded with the win at the end I thought if we got more possessions and more shots on goal that we would win, and I guess we were one possession short.

Tournaments are won by guards, and Amber was the best guard on the floor, Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said. Amber put our team on her back today.

Orranges heroics filled the void left by Pac-12 Player of the Year Chiney Chinenye Ogwumike (6'3''-F-92), who picked up her second foul with 7:56 remaining in the first half and spent the remainder of the half on the bench.

UCLA took advantage of Chinenye Ogwumikes time on the pine to roar back and outscore Stanford 21-12. The Bruins took the lead with 27 seconds remaining in the first half and headed to the locker room with the 27-26 advantage, marking the second night in a row that Stanford trailed at the half. It had happened just three times the entire regular season.

In the second half, the teams stayed within one possession of each other until a 5-0 UCLA run put the underdog up 42-35 with nine minutes remaining. Stanford answered with a 9-2 run over the next six minutes to bring the Cardinal back to a 45-44 lead at 2:59. Orrange accounted for six of those points.

Chinenye Ogwumike never got rolling offensively and finished with a career-low three points while Orrange had a career-high 20. UCLAs Walker led the Bruins with 16 points and seven rebounds.

Voted onto the all-tournament team were Orrange, Walker, Washingtons Jazmine Davis, Colorados Chucky Jeffery and UCLAs Alyssia Brewer. Chinenye Ogwumike was named the tournaments Most Outstanding Player.

Courtesy of Pac-12

Pac-12 Tournament Final: Stanford - UCLA 51-49
Pac-12 Tournament Semifinals:
Stanford - Colorado 61-47
UCLA - California 70-58

All-Pac-12 1st Team 2012-2013
#s#	Ogwumike	Boyd	Brandon	Brewer	Plouffe	#e#5