USC no match for No. 14 Stanford

USC caught Stanford short-handed Wednesday night.

But No. 14 Stanford, even with two-time Pacific 10 Conference player of the year Candice Wiggins sidelined because a sprained hamstring, still proved too much to handle for the Trojans in a conference opener.

Brooke Smith led the way with 14 points and 12 rebounds and the Cardinal, seeking its seventh consecutive Pac-10 title, rolled to a 62-46 victory at the Galen Center.

“I think any time you go on the road and get a win you’re excited,” Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said after Stanford ran its record to 6-3.

“It wasn’t necessarily pretty but we’re playing a lot of young people and I thought they did really well.”

Shay Murphy scored 22 points and kept USC (6-5) close before tiring in the second half, when she made two of eight shots -- she made nine of 17 overall -- and fell to the court with 51 seconds to play because of a cramp in her left calf.

“I just had no legs,” she said. “I was a little bit tired.”

Kristen Newlin scored 14 points for Stanford, which got 13 from Jillian Harmon and 11 from freshman JJ Hones, who before Wednesday was averaging 2.6.

-- Jerry Crowe

UCLA 77, No. 15 California 68 -- Amanda Livingston scored 16 points and the Bruins (7-6) opened conference play with an overtime victory over the Bears (8-2) at Pauley Pavilion.

No. 20 Michigan State 69, UC Santa Barbara 45 -- Allyssa DeHaan scored 17 points and the Spartans (8-2) defeated the Gauchos (4-7) at Santa Barbara.