Dec. 31, 2011

Box Score

LOS ANGELES - Senior Rebekah Gardner paced the Bruins with 17 points to go with six rebounds, while junior Markel Walker added 11 points and seven boards, but the Bruins dropped a 77-50 decision to fourth-ranked Stanford on Saturday at the John Wooden Center.

The Bruins fall to 6-7 overall and 1-1 in Pac-12 play, while the Cardinal improve to 11-1 and 2-0 in league action.

Sophomore Thea Lemberger added eight points, while freshman Moriah Faulk came off the bench to post six. The Bruins shot just 27.9% (17-61) from the floor. The one bright spot was at the free-throw line, as UCLA shot over 70% for the third straight contest, making 15-of-20 (75.0%).

The Bruins held an early 3-2 lead following a Lemberger three-pointer, but a 4-0 Stanford run put the visitors up 6-3. The Cardinal saw their lead grow to five at 15-10 with 10:58 left in the first half, but UCLA scored six in a row over the next 60 seconds to take a 16-15 edge. Walker and Faulk produced back-to-back, three-point plays to put the Bruins up by one.

The Cardinal recorded the next six though and began to widen their lead. Up 23-20, Stanford went on a 17-3 run in the final seven minutes to take a 40-23 lead into the locker room. Gardner paced the Bruins with nine points and five rebounds in the first half, while Walker added five points. The Bruins shot 27.6% from the floor in the first half, making eight of 29 attempts, while the Cardinal shot at a 53.1% (17-32) clip.

Within the first three minutes of the second half, the Cardinal lead got to above 20 and stayed there for the remainder of the contest. Down 60-32 midway through the second half, the Bruins went on an 8-4 run on four points by both Lemberger and Gardner to cut their deficit to 64-40. However, Stanford came back with an 11-3 run of its own to get its advantage to a game-high 32 with just over four minutes remaining at 75-43.

Gardner had eight points in the second half, Walker added six and Lemberger posted five. The Bruins shot 28.1% from the field in the second half, making nine of their 32 attempts.

The Bruins are on the road for the first time in Pac-12 play next weekend when they travel to the Arizona schools. UCLA takes on Arizona on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. PT and Arizona State on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 3 p.m. PT. Both contests will feature Gametracker and free audio at UCLABruins.com. Saturday's matchup at ASU will also be broadcast live on Fox Sports Net.