The No. 8 Wildcats held off California 78-76 Saturday night, sending theminto the NCAA tournament with a six-game winning streak.
Loren Woods had 22 points and nine rebounds, Michael Wright had 20 pointsand Gilbert Arenas added 18 for Arizona (23-7, 15-3 Pac-10), which upset No. 1Stanford on Thursday night.
'Probably the thing that makes me the happiest is the play we got fromLoren Woods today,' Arizona coach Lute Olson said. 'He was much moreaggressive and I felt like that was the missing link for us.'
Jason Gardner's 3-pointer with 59 seconds remaining gave Arizona a 77-74lead. Sean Lampley responded with two free throws for Cal, then RichardJefferson made the second of two free throws with 12 seconds left to give theWildcats a 78-76 lead.
Lampley had 27 points for Cal (20-10, 11-7), which finished tied withSouthern California for fourth in the Pac-10 and hopes for an NCAA at-largeberth. The senior forward said coming so close to Arizona is a positive at thistime of the season.
'It will give us a boost if we make the tournament, whichever tournament wemake,' Lampley said. 'I'm just going to wait until tomorrow (to find out).'
The Wildcats were No. 1 in the preseason, but were just 5-3 in mid-Decemberand 8-5 after a home loss to Stanford in early January. That defeat came in theabsence of Olson, who missed five games surrounding the death of his wife,Bobbi, from ovarian cancer.
Arizona also struggled this season with the NCAA suspensions of Woods forsix games and Jefferson for one game.
Since Olson returned to the sidelines in mid-January, the Wildcats are 13-2.Their only losses during that span were at Oregon and an overtime defeat atUCLA.
Arizona led 38-33 at halftime, then built its lead to 10 points as Woods hadseven points during a 13-8 run to open the second half.
But Cal responded with 10 straight points, tying the game at 51 on RyanForehan-Kelly's 3-pointer with 10 1/2 minutes left - his first points of the game.
Wright then took control, powering his way inside for a couple of baskets.Woods made two free throws and, after a Cal bucket, Wright scored again to giveArizona a 59-53 lead.
A short jumper by Woods gave the Wildcats a 64-57 lead with 6:25 remaining,but Lampley then scored seven straight points - including a three-point playwith 4:12 remaining - to tie the score at 64.
Brian Wethers hit two free throws with 1:50 remaining to give Cal a 74-72lead, but Woods scored on a layup with 1:34 left to tie the game again and setthe stage for Gardner's decisive 3-pointer.
Arenas had 13 points in the first half for the Wildcats. Lampley, thePac-10's leading scorer this season, had 10 at halftime for Cal.
The UCLA softball team, ranked second in both national pre-season polls, opens its 2006 season on Thursday afternoon in San Diego at the Campbell/Cartier Tournament, hosted by San Diego State. The Bruins return every player from last year's NCAA runner-up squad except for bullpen catcher Nicole Sandberg, who did not play in a game last season.
A player does not have to appear on the inital watch list to be considered as a Top-25 finalist, but once the Top-25 is named on April 5, the remaining finalists must be selected from that list. The list will be cut to 10 players on May 10 and three finalists will be announced May 31 with the 2006 winner being named during the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City in June.
This is the season-opening tournament for all teams, as Thursday, February 9, is the first permissible play date per NCAA rules.
Cal Poly: UCLA leads series 15-3. Last Meeting: UCLA won 4-0 in both meetings at the 2004 Clovis Auto Row Classic in Fresno, Calif. Notable: Mustangs head coach Jenny Condon coached with UCLA assistant coach Gina Vecchione at Oregion State, while both of Condon's assistants, Keira Goerl and Claire Sua, were members of UCLA's back-to-back NCAA Championship Teams in 2003-04.
UC Santa Barbara: UCLA leads series 58-2, Last Meeting: UCLA swept a doubleheader, 5-1 and 9-1 on January 30, 2005 at UCSB. Notable: Gauchos head coach Kristy (Howard) Schroeder, is a 1994 UCLA graduate.
UMass: UCLA leads series 2-0. Last Meeting: UCLA won 4-0 on May 21, 1992, in the opening game of NCAA Regionals at UCLA.
San Diego State: UCLA leads series 53-2. Last Meeting: UCLA won 2-0 on March 13, 2004, at the Clovis Auto Row Classic in Fresno, Calif. Notable: Aztecs Associate Head Coach Kelly (Howard) Warren is a 1996 UCLA graduate and sister of UCSB head coach Kristy Schroeder.
Kenjon Barner scored two touchdowns and De'Anthony Thomas contributed three as Oregon rushed for 430 yards as a team en route to doubling up on Oregon State, 48-24, in the annual Civil War game.
UCLA is participating in the Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes GC in Palos Verdes, CA. Tickets info may be found here.