By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal held on in a nail biting win over UCLA in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament on Friday afternoon, as they beat the Bruins 67-62.  UCLA was coming off of an impressive 80-62 victory over the Arizona Wildcats in the first round, while Stanford got Thursday off with a first round bye.

Stanford led the entire contest, except for a one-minute period early in the first half, where they fell behind by two.  Even with leading the entire way, however, UCLA kept it close.  This was the case especially down the line, as the Bruins had a late push, going on a 11-0 run with 8:30 remaining to pull within one.  The run ended when Taylor Greenfield hit a free throw with 5:25 left.  The bruins were able to tie it at 56-56 with the next trip down the floor when Kacy Swain hit her jumper.  However, that would be UCLA’s last bucket until 2:15, as the Cardinal were able to go on a 5-0 run that ended up being the difference maker, as UCLA was unable to make the comeback.

Amber Orrange led all scorers with 18 points, as the Stanford senior also contributed three assists.  Lili Thompson finished the day just four of ten from the field, but was still able to manage 14 points to become the Cardinal’s second top scorer.  Erica McCall capped off the double digit scorers with ten.

Jordin Canada finished as UCLA’s top scorer with 15.  Kari Korver added 12, and Swain finished with ten.

The Cardinal will move onto the semi-finals of the tournament, where they will take on Arizona State on Saturday.  Arizona State has the Cardinal’s number this year beating them in both meeting, so Stanford will look to exact their revenge.