No. 25 UCLA beats No. 20 Arizona St 73-69 in Pac-12 tourney

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Japreece Dean scored 24 points and Michaela Onyenwere added 20 to help No. 25 UCLA beat 20th-ranked Arizona State 73-69 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Bruins (20-11) were up 14 points in the third quarter before the Sun Devils (20-10) rallied to within 57-56 at the end of the period.

Dean and Kennedy Burke combined for the team’s first eight points of the fourth quarter to extend the advantage to 65-58 with 4:15 left. The lead ballooned to nine before Arizona State got within 69-66 with a minute left after Robbi Ryan hit a 3-pointer from the wing. After a UCLA timeout, Onyenwere drove to the basket to make it a five-point game with 45 seconds left. UCLA missed four straight free throws in the final 30 seconds, but the Sun Devils couldn’t capitalize.

UCLA, which has won 11 of its past 13 games now since a two-point win over Arizona State on Jan. 25, will face either top-seed Oregon or Arizona in the semifinals on Saturday night.

Kianna Ibis scored 14 points to lead Arizona State, which has a school-record six straight 20-win seasons. The Sun Devils now await an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Bruins jumped out to a 20-8 lead on the Sun Devils in the first quarter and extended the advantage to 15 in the second period before Arizona State finally got going offensively and cut its deficit to 41-31 at the half. The Sun Devils then were down by 14 in the third quarter before cutting the deficit to one by the end of the period.

During that third quarter, Dean missed the third free throw after she was fouled shooting a 3-point shot. She had made 73 of her previous 74 from the line. She’s shooting nearly 92 percent on the season.