COLLEGE ROUNDUP: TROJANS AMISS IN LOSS.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Jamie Hagiya was handing out Christmas presents to her coaches and teammates after USC's 62-53 Pacific-10 Conference loss to No. 15 California on Friday afternoon.

A nice thought, sure. But not exactly the Christmas present USC women's basketball coach Mark Trakh would've put at the top of his list. No, if Trakh were to bump into Santa Claus these days, he'd be asking for a couple more healthy players.

The Trojans dressed just nine players for Friday's game, only seven of which are on scholarship.

USC starters Brynn Cameron (pregnancy) and Camille LeNoir (hip) are out for the season, as is highly-touted freshman Jacki Gemelos (knee).

It is also missing point guard Hailey Dunham (back), forwards Jamie Funn (hip), Markisha Lea (knee) and freshman guard Aarika Hughes (stress fracture).

``I'm really proud of the way we're competing,'' Trakh said.

``There aren't many teams who could lose seven players and still compete. We could be 0-10 and losing by 30, but we've been in every game and that's all I can ask for.''

USC was led by senior Eshaya Murphy (Montclair Prep of Panorama City) who tied Cal's Ashley Walker for game-high honors with 17 points.

Murphy was 6 of 21 from the field, which, compared to the rest of her team, was actually quite good. USC shot a season-low 29.7 percent from the floor on Friday. If you take Murphy out, the rest of the team shot 26 percent (13 for 50).

USC hung with the Bears for most of the game by playing stingy defense on Cal's top two post players, Walker and Devanei Hampton. The Trojans (6-6, 0-2) also got clutch contributions from walk-on Nicole Berberet, who hit a 3-pointer in the first half and played solid defense in nine minutes of action.

The Trojans tied the score 44-44 on Chloe Kerr's free throw with 7:59 remaining and trailed just 48-47 with 5:16 to go. But Cal went on a 9-0 run and USC ran out of time to mount a rally.

USC is expected to get a couple of its injured players back soon.

Funn could return by the Jan.5 game against Oregon. Dunham could be back even sooner. She missed Friday's game due to back spasms and is considered day-to-day.

--Ramona Shelburne

No. 14 Stanford 68, UCLA 59: Jillian Harmon had 14 points and three steals, Brooke Smith added 13 points, and No. 14 Stanford withstood a comeback to beat UCLA in a Pacific-10 Conference game at Pauley Pavilion.

J.J. Hones and reserve Jayne Appel added 11 points apiece for the Cardinal (7-3, 2-0), who led by as many as 23 points in the second half before UCLA used a 19-2 run to draw within six. But that's as close as the Bruins would get.

Noelle Quinn led UCLA (7-7, 1-1) with 18 points and eight rebounds and Lindsey Pluimer added 15 points.

Stanford led 36-28 at halftime, and scored the first 10 points of the second half for an 18-point lead. It was 59-36 when the Bruins suddenly got hot, cutting the Cardinal's lead to 61-55 on Tierra Henderson's 3-pointer.