Ruff Takes Control In Cougars’ Win

Women’s basketball

Jenni Ruff scored Washington State’s final 18 points as the Cougars overcame an eight-point deficit to hand the Southern California Trojans a 90-86 loss in a Pacific-10 women’s basketball game Sunday afternoon at the Lyon Center.

Ruff scored 29 points to lead WSU (1-1, 9-3) past USC, with 25 of her points coming in the second half. Kristin Erickson contributed 23 points and had seven rebounds while putting in a strong defensive effort against USC’s Tina Thompson. Yvonne Kunze added 15 for WSU and Julie Wight scored 11 points.

The Trojans (5-6, 0-2), who led by as many as 13 points in the first half, were paced by Thompson’s 26 points, but the powerful Trojan forward only had five rebounds. Adrian Williams added 13 for USC, while Erica Mashia scored 10 points.

“We needed to get Jenni involved in the offense,” Cougar coach Harold Rhodes said. “Kristin carried us in the first half, but this team plays best when Ruff is more involved in the offense.”

The Trojans went on top 84-81 after a layin by Thompson with 3:16 to play.

The Cougars, or actually Ruff, then outscored USC 9-2 over the final 3 minutes. First Ruff hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. Then she made the first of two consecutive layins off passes from Erickson. The last gave the Cougars an 88-86 lead with 54 seconds to play.

After Jody Anton missed a jumper with 24 seconds left in the contest, Ruff’s hustle earned the Cougars a jump ball on the rebound scramble, with the possession arrow going to WSU. Ruff closed out the game by hitting two free throws, the first with 12 seconds to play, the last with 1.3 left on the game clock.

WSU now returns home for a pair of league games at home next week, hosting Oregon Thursday and No. 12-ranked Oregon State Saturday.

WSU 90, USC 86

WSU (1-1, 9-3) - Wight 5-16 0-0 11, Erickson 9-20 0-1 23, Kunze 6-10 3-6 15, Hyett 3-3 0-1 6, Ruff 11-18 2-6 29, Kerns 0-1 0-1 0, Whaley 0-1 0-0 0, Wilder 2-2 2-4 6, Totals 36-71 9-19 90.

USC (0-2, 5-6) - Thompson 11-16 2-3 26, Anton 1-5 2-2 5, Williams 6-10 1-1 13, Jackson 2-4 0-0 5, Mashia 3-10 2-2 10, Campbell 4-4 1-2 9, Jeffrey 0-1 0-0 0, Kartz 3-5 0-0 7, Clark 0-3 0-1 0, Parriott 5-7 0-0 11, Circle 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 35-66 8-11 86.

Halftime - USC 50, WSU 43. 3-Point goals - WSU 9-19 (Wight 1-5 Erickson 5-10 Ruff 3-4), USC 8-16 (Thompson 2-3, Anton 1-3, Jackson 1-2, Mashia 2-4, Kartz 1-1, Clark 0-1, Pattiott 1-2). Fouled out - None. Technicals - None. A - 412.

Washington 78, UCLA 66

Freshman Jamie Redd scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Huskies to a victory over the Bruins in Pac-10 play at Los Angeles.

Seven of Redd’s points came in an 11-4 scoring run that helped the Huskies (2-0 8-5) cut a 28-14 UCLA lead to 37-33 by halftime.

Washington went ahead 47-45 on a pair of free throws by Laure Savasta with 14:07 remaining in the second half. UCLA (1-1, 6-5) never regained the lead.

Gena Pelz scored 15 points for Washington and Savasta had 12. Zrinka Kristich and Nickey Hilbert each scored 19 points for UCLA.

Washington (2-0, 8-5) - Redd, 7-13 7-10 22, Pelz 6-7 3-4 15, Lynch 3-8 0-1 6, Savasta 3-11 6-9 12, Kelly 1-5 0-2 3, Wuschnig 2-6 3-6 7, Teel 0-0 0-0 0, Hall 5-6 1-2 11, Hills 0-1 202 2, Niemela 0-0 0-0 0, Kincaid 0-0 0-0 0, Hoffmann 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-57 22-36 78.

UCLA (1-1, 6-5) - Grimes 3-6 2-4 8, Kristich 7-11 5-7 19, Hughes 2-5 0-4 4, Gomez 3-8 8-11 14, Hilbert 5-17 8-9 19, Kuypers 0-1 0-0 0, Oenning 0-0 0-0 0, Burningham 0-1 0-0 0, Tomich 0-0 0-0 0, Veasley 0-0 0-0 0, Arredondo 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 21-53 23-35 66.

Halftime- UCLA 37, Washington 33. 3-Point goals- Washington 2-9 (Redd 1-4, Kelly 1-4), UCLA 1-5 (Hilbert 1-4). Fouled out-Hughes, Gomez. A - 650.

, DataTimes