COLLEGES: PLUIMER'S 19 POINTS LIFT UCLA.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Lindsey Pluimer scored 19 points as the UCLA women's basketball team pulled away late in the second half to get a 68-56 win over Washington State at Pauley Pavilion.

The game had six lead changes in the opening half. The Bruins (12-11, 7-5 Pac-10) went on a 9-0 run to go up by eight, but the Cougars (3-19, 0-11) were able to cut the lead to 33-30 at halftime.

UCLA scored the first four points of the second half to take a seven-point lead, but the Cougars climbed back once again, tying the score at 39-39.

From that point on, UCLA steadily broke away, however, building as much as a 13-point lead to close out the game.

USC 68, Washington 52: Nadia Parker scored 14 points to lead the Trojans (14-9, 7-5 Pac-10) to the victory at the Galen Center.

Simone Jelks scored 13 points and Heather Oliver and Hailey Dunham had 10 apiece for USC, which took a 33-17 halftime lead. Dunham added a team-high eight rebounds.

Katelan Redmon led Washington (9-14, 4-7) with 16 points.

Baseball

Waves pitcher honored: Pepperdine junior pitcher Brett Hunter (Moorpark) was named to Baseball America's 2008 Preseason All-America first-team.

In 2007, Hunter went 6-5 for the Waves with a 3.94 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 82 1/3 innings. Following his freshman season, in which he went 5-3 with a 2.83 ERA and 11 saves, Hunter was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball, an All-West Coast Conference first-team selection and to the WCC All-Freshman squad.

Men's tennis

USC 6, Clemson 1: Daniel Gliner's win at No. 6 singles clinched the win for the host Trojans (6-0).

Swimming

Cal 136, USC 102: Junior Vanni Mangoni and sophomore Zoltan Povazsay each won races, but the Trojans (2-4, 1-4 Pac-10) fell at home.

Softball

Bruins win two: No. 10 UCLA opened its season with a 10-1 victory against Nevada and a 6-1 defeat of No. 5 Oklahoma in the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament at Easton Stadium.

Matadors swept: Cal State Northridge dropped both of its games at the Cathedral City Kickoff in Palm Springs. The Matadors fell to Winthrop 8-4 in the first game and lost to Mississippi State 4-2 in their afternoon contest.

Freshman Krystal Raphael had an impressive debut for CSUN, driving in three runs and scoring one.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

UCLA's Chinyere Ibekwe, right, goes up for a shot in front of Washington State's Katie Calderwood on Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

Edna T. Simpson/Daily News