BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Charisma Osborne had 32 points and No. 7 UCLA beat California 78-58 on Friday night for its 12th straight victory over the Bears.
UCLA (17-3, 6-3 Pac-12) rebounded after losing to unranked Washington State, with a marquee matchup at No. 4 Stanford looming Sunday. The Bruins started the season 14-0, but had lost three of their last five.
Londynn Jones added 18, including six straight points in one possession after Cal had cut the lead to single digits midway through the fourth quarter. Jones hit a three with a foul away from the ball, and then made a layup plus the foul after UCLA retained possession. Angela Dugalic also had 12 points for UCLA.
Ugonne Onyiah led Cal (13-9, 3-7) with 21 points. The Bears have lost six of seven.
Osborne’s elbow jumper off a screen by Lina Sontag with under two minutes to go in the half gave her 2,102 career points, passing Maylana Martin for third on UCLA’s scoring list. The graduate student recorded her 30th point with just over three minutes to play in the third quarter on another jumper, capping off seven straight points and putting the Bruins ahead 51-32.
UCLA led 53-38 after three quarters.
UCLA was without leading scorer Lauren Betts, who is averaging 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds this season, for the third straight game. Betts practiced during the week but was listed as questionable due to “undisclosed medical reasons."
Big Picture
UCLA: The Bruins get back on track with a conference win ahead of a top-10 matchup at Stanford on Sunday, where they’ll need to duplicate Friday’s performance without Betts yet again.
Cal: The schedule doesn’t get easier for the Bears, who began a stretch of facing four ranked Pac-12 opponents in five games.
Up Next
UCLA: At at No. 4 Stanford on Sunday.
Cal: Hosts No. 15 Southern California on Sunday. ———
AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
