LOS ANGELES – Kiana Williams led Stanford with 14 points, but the Cardinal was unable to recover from a rough start and lost at No. 13 UCLA 64-53 in Pauley Pavilion on Sunday night.
The Bruins (15-4, 6-2) put in the game's first 10 points and were up 12 after one, 22-10. Stanford (12-8, 6-2) outscored UCLA 43-42 the rest of the way, but was unable to get any closer than six.
Monique Billings hit a layup early in the fourth quarter to push UCLA's advantage to 13 and would get the Bruins' next bucket more than three minutes later to make it 54-43 with four minutes remaining before Stanford made its final push.
Marta Sniezek picked Jordin Canada and pushed ahead to Williams, who drove and fed Maya Dodson with a perfect bounce pass for an easy lay-in. With 2:33 on the clock, Sniezek hit DiJonai Carrington behind the arc for a triple and the Cardinal was within six, 54-48.
UCLA would only attempt one field goals the rest of the way, a Kennedy Burke 3-point miss, but sealed it at the line. Canada took 10 free throws in the final two minutes and made eight, while Billings sank the final two for the Bruins with 34 seconds left. Canada was 10-of-12 at the line in the fourth quarter.
Williams scored in double figures for the ninth time in the past 13 games on 6-of-14 shooting. She also had three assists in a career-high 36 minutes. Marta Sniezek had nine points and a game-high five assists and Nadia Fingall and Carrington gave Stanford good minutes off the bench, each scoring six and grabbing eight rebounds.
