USC pulls away from Cougars

Eshaya Murphy had 22 points as USC used an 11-3 run midway through the second half to down Washington State 75-67 in Pac-10 basketball action Saturday at Los Angeles.

Keisha Moore scored 18 and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for Washington State (7-16, 1-13). Amanda DuRocher added 15 points, and Katie Appleton chipped in 10.

Camille LeNoir had 21 points for USC (15-9, 9-6).

Gonzaga 46, Portland 41: At Portland, the Bulldogs (12-13, 7-3 West Coast Conference) held the Pilots (4-19, 1-9) to 10 first-half points en route to a road win.

Stephanie Hawk led Gonzaga with 10 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, while Ashley Anderson added nine points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who shot 29 percent from the floor.

Rachel Warren had game highs of 14 points and 14 rebounds for Portland.

Portland State 62, Eastern Washington 56: At Portland, Portland State (9-12, 3-5 Big Sky Conference) went on an 8-0 run with 7 minutes left as the Eagles blew an 11-point, second-half lead in a loss to the Vikings.

Leah Gonella had 14 points and five assists for the Eagles (9-12, 3-5), whose 33 turnovers led to 33 Vikings points.

Pacific Lutheran 64, Whitworth 56: At Spokane, Kelly Turner scored a game-high 19 points as the Lutes (19-3, 12-2 Northwest Conference), beat the Pirates, who were playing without leading scorer Emily Hendrickson.

Holly Ridings led the way with 12 points for Whitworth (13-9, 7-7), which also got 10 points and 12 rebounds from Chelsea Combs.

UCLA 83, Washington 75: At Los Angeles, Noelle Quinn had 23 points, eight rebounds and nine assists as the Bruins (15-9, 10-5 Pac-10) beat the Huskies.

Cameo Hicks led the Huskies (16-7, 9-5) with 21 points.

North Idaho 93, Southern Idaho 86: At Coeur d’Alene, Sara Dennehy led all scorers with 20 points as six Cardinals (19-6, 12-2 Scenic West Athletic Conference) reached double digits in a victory over the Golden Eagles (19-5, 10-2).

Mitchell on award list

Idaho junior point guard Leilani Mitchell was named one of 11 finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award, given to the nation’s top point guard.

Mitchell, a Kennewick High grad, is averaging 17.9 points per game and is third in the nation in steals per game (4.0) – having set the school record for career steals earlier in the season – and 16th in assists per game (5.7).

Top 25

(14) Stanford 55, California 46: At Berkeley, Calif., Candice Wiggins scored 19 of her 25 points in the second half as the Cardinal (18-5, 12-2 Pac-10) beat the Bears (15-9, 7-7).

(18) BYU 55, UNLV 51: At Las Vegas, Ambrosia Anderson’s tiebreaking 3-pointer with 23 seconds left sent the Cougars (20-2, 10-1 Mountain West) past the Lady Rebels (13-8, 5-5).

(24) Louisiana Tech 88, Utah St. 54: At Ruston, La., Aarica Ray-Boyd had the first double-double of her career, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds as the Lady Techsters (18-4, 10-1 Western Athletic Conference) beat the Aggies (2-18, 1-19).

(24) Texas A&M 69, Nebraska 50: At Lincoln, Neb., Moreniko Atunrase scored 19 of her 23 points in the first half as the Aggies (19-5, 8-3 Big 12) beat the Cornhuskers (12-10, 4-7).