W.G. RAMIREZ
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kiana Williams scored 26 points to lead No. 4 Stanford to the Pac 12 Tournament championship with a 75-55 win over No. 9 UCLA on Sunday night.

Stanford, which has made the Pac-12 championship game 18 times in 20 total tournaments, improved to 14-4 in the finals while winning its third title in five years.

Lexie Hull added 24 points while Haley Jones finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford (25-2).

Michaela Onyenwere led UCLA (16-5) with 30 points. Charisma Osborne finished with 11 points and five rebounds for the Bruins.

The game was a renewal of one of the more storied rivalries in Pac 12 postseason history, as Stanford has played UCLA more than any other team in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Cardinal improved to 11-1 against the Bruins in the event – including four wins in championship meetings.

Stanford controlled things in the first half, with a balanced attack led by Williams and Hull. The Cardinal used runs of 12-5 in the first quarter and 11-3 to start the second quarter to eventually take a 23-point lead into halftime.

Onyenwere was UCLA’s only bright spot in the first half, scoring 13 points. She was 5-for-11 from the floor while the rest of the team was 2-of-15 (.133).

UCLA began to claw its way back into the game after Williams’ 3-pointer gave Stanford its biggest lead, 26, with 9:19 left in the third quarter. Riding the hot hand of Onyenwere, the Bruins went on a 20-6 run to get within 12 just before the end of the third quarter.

Stanford regained its composure and managed to build a 16-point lead midway through the fourth quarter behind a nine-point spurt from Hull, and the Cardinal never looked back.

BIG PICTURE

UCLA: The struggle to find offense, and defend the Cardinal, must have left Bruins coach Cori Close with a difficult decision on how to use starter Natalie Chou. The senior guard was a defensive stopper in the team’s first two games, came in with a team second-best 35 steals, and was the Bruins’ third-leading scorer with 10.3 points per game. Chou, who averaged a little more than 30 minutes per game, played 26 minutes.

Stanford: Williams’ finished the Pac 12 Tournament (12 of 18) from 3-point range. The senior guard, who can opt-in for another senior season, is now one 3-pointer shy of Candice Williams’ career record of 295.

ACE IN THE PLACE

Las Vegas Aces owner Mark Davis, who also owns the Las Vegas Raiders, took his seat for the title game inside Mandalay Bay’s arena about 45 minutes before tipoff. The Aces, whom Davis purchased in January, play their home games inside the venue.

“I’m here to scout,” Davis said with a wide smile.

BIG BROTHER

In what appeared to be sheer coincidence, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson arrived at Mandalay Bay around the same time as Davis. Just as he did for the 2020 Pac 12 Tournament in the same arena, Wilson was in attendance for the championship game to support his younger sister, Anna, a starting guard for Stanford. Wilson, who sat socially distanced and situated above and behind the Cardinal bench, played the role of exuberant fan, cheering from his feet and at times taking phone pics an/or videos of his sister, who finished with two points, four rebounds, three assists, and one steal in 31 minutes.

UP NEXT

Both teams await their NCAA seeds.

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