Women's College Basketball | No. 11 Stanford starts Pac-10 play with a win

TEMPE, Ariz. — Jillian Harmon scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and made a key steal down the stretch to help No. 11 Stanford beat Arizona State 64-61 Friday night in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.

The only Pac-10 schools that didn't play their conference openers Friday were Washington and Washington State, who meet today in Seattle.

Kayla Pedersen added 17 points and six rebounds for Stanford (10-3). She made a free throw with six seconds remaining but missed her second attempt, allowing the Sun Devils (8-5) to try a last-second shot that could have tied the score.

Arizona State's Dymond Simon was off on a 25-footer, though, and Stanford prevailed.

Briann January, who is from Spokane, scored 21 points, including 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range, to lead Arizona State. January was 7 for 10 from the field.

Stanford won for the first time this season after trailing at halftime, falling behind 31-24 at the break and 40-26 less than three minutes into the second half.

Arizona State went ahead after Stanford's Jayne Appel picked up her fourth foul with 18:08 left. But Appel, who averages 14.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, made five free throws during a 14-0 run that ended with Pedersen's three-pointer and gave the Cardinal a 56-52 advantage with 4:02 remaining.

Kayli Murphy made a 15-footer with 54 seconds left to give the Sun Devils a 61-60 lead, but Pedersen answered with a drive to the basket with 35 seconds remaining to put Stanford in front for good.

Harmon added a free throw with 19 seconds left.

Appel finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds for Stanford, which has beaten the Sun Devils six consecutive times.

Simon scored 11 points.

Other Pac-10 games

No. 13 California 56,

at Arizona 46

Ashley Walker scored 23 points to lead the Golden Bears (10-2) past the Wildcats (7-5).

Walker had 16 points in the second half, making 8 of 11 shots after the break. She hit a 16-foot jumper with less than two minutes remaining to give California a 54-45 lead.

Cal also relied on Casey Morris, who scored all 18 of her points in the first half.

Reiko Thomas led Arizona with 16 points.

At UCLA 60, Oregon St. 53

Nina Earl scored 15 points to help the Bruins (10-2) defeat the Beavers (9-2). UCLA's Christina Nzekwe, a former standout at Chief Sealth High School in Seattle, had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Oregon State's Alex Mitchell scored 24 points.

At USC 66, Oregon 56

Nadia Parker scored 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting to lead the Women of Troy (7-5) past the Ducks (3-8).

Micaela Cocks had 18 points for Oregon.

Other games

At Gonzaga 93, Saint Joseph's 70

Heather Bowman of Spokane had a career-high 33 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead Gonzaga over Saint Joseph's.

Bowman has 19 career double-doubles for the Zags (12-4).

Zags freshman Kelly Bowen scored a career-high 17 points.

At Eastern Washington 70, Northern Arizona 64

Nicole Scott scored 18 points as the Eagles (6-8) defeated Northern Arizona (3-11) in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.

Julie Piper contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds for Eastern.