UCLA Reaches Final in Las Vegas

Michelle Greco had 18 points and five assists, and the UCLA offense exploded for the second straight game Saturday as the Bruins defeated Northwestern State, 82-74, in the first game of the Lady Rebel Shootout at Nevada Las Vegas.

Greco, a senior guard, was ably backed by freshman forward Julia Pitts, who had 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Nikki Blue added 15 points and seven rebounds.

The win improved UCLA to 2-1. Northwestern State, which got a career-high 25 points from sophomore guard Diamond Crosby, fell to 1-1.

UCLA, which never trailed, held the Demons without a field goal in the final 6:43 of the first half and used a 19-3 run over that stretch to take a 43-26 halftime lead. Bruin junior guard Gennifer Arranaga came off the bench and scored six of her 13 points during the spurt.

The Bruins reached their biggest lead, 51-28, at the 17:39 mark of the second half, and still led 76-61 with 3:12 to play. Northwestern State made a last-ditch rally, using a 13-2 run to close within 78-74 with 50 seconds remaining. But UCLA guard Natalie Nakase made four free throws in the final half-minute to seal the win.

In today’s final UCLA will play UNLV, which defeated Texas El Paso, 74-61.

-- Mike Terry

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Alana Beard made two free throws with one second left in overtime to complete a 27-point performance, and No. 1 Duke escaped with a 74-72 victory over No. 17 Arkansas. The victory gave Duke (5-0) the championship of the St. John division of the Paradise Jam at Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands. Arkansas (4-1) got 19 points from Shameka Christon.... No. 2 Kansas State was upset by No. 7 Stanford, 63-57, in the Stanford Invitational at Palo Alto.... Doneeka Hodges scored 14 points to pace No. 3 Louisiana State (5-0), which defeated Florida International, 68-54, in the Thanksgiving Classic at Miami.... No. 4 Tennessee beat Army, 96-44, to reach the championship of the San Juan Shootout in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Kara Lawson scored 20 points for Tennessee (4-1).... Diana Taurasi scored 18 points to lead No. 5 Connecticut (4-0) past Hawaii, 60-53, in the second round of the Rainbow Wahine Classic at Honolulu.... No. 8 Georgia (2-1) shot only 35% in a 70-49 loss to Arizona at Tucson. Julie Brase led Arizona with 16 points.... Chantelle Anderson’s 16 points carried No. 9 Vanderbilt (3-0) past Youngstown State, 91-60, at the First Tennessee Tournament in Nashville.... No. 11 North Carolina fell to No. 23 Oklahoma, 66-63, in the Rainbow Wahine Classic.... Janel McCarville scored 19 points as No. 14 Minnesota (5-0) beat Air Force, 88-75, to win the Air Force Classic at Colorado Springs, Colo.... Cristina Ciocan scored 18 points, and unbeaten South Carolina upset No. 18 Boston College (3-1), 54-51, to win the St. Thomas division of the Paradise Jam.... Erin Thorn scored 14 points as No. 22 Brigham Young (3-0) pulled away from Weber State to win, 51-41, at Provo, Utah.... Valerie King scored 22 points as No. 25 Cincinnati (2-1) defeated Middle Tennessee, 79-59, at Cincinnati.