Cal survives close call over pesky St. Mary's

BERKELEY — Freshman Layshia Clarendon hit a go-ahead jumper with 48 seconds left and a free throw with 7 seconds remaining and No. 17 California overcame a cold shooting night to beat St. Mary's 68-65 on Tuesday for its fifth straight win in the series.

Tifa Puletasi missed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc as the buzzer sounded for St. Mary's (1-1), which was trying to beat a ranked team for the first time since Nov. 17, 2000, a 74-63 win over Stanford.

It was far from a pretty tuneup for the Golden Bears (2-0) before Sunday's highly anticipated showdown with No. 8 Baylor at Haas Pavilion — 11 months after these teams were supposed to play. The Baylor team couldn't make it to the Bay Area last December because of weather.

Natasha Vital scored 17 points to lead Cal and freshman DeNesha Stallworth added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Cal plays Baylor on Sunday. The Bears beat Tennessee Tech 100-55 behind 10 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks from 6-foot-8 freshman phenom Brittney Griner.

• No. 1 UCONN 83, No. 10 TEXAS 58, at San Antonio — Maya Moore had 20 points and 11 rebounds and top-ranked Connecticut cruised in what was supposed to be its first test of the season. Tina Charles added 15 points and 11 rebounds as UConn never trailed on a floor that will host the Final Four in April.

• No. 3 OHIO STATE 88, UAB 55, at Columbus, Ohio — Jantel Lavender scored 21 of her 30 points in the first half for Ohio State (3-0). .

• No. 6 TENNESSEE 91, TEXAS TECH 53, at San Antonio — Taber Spani scored 18 points and Glory Johnson added 17 points to lead Tennessee. Shekinna Stricklen added 16 points for the Lady Vols.

• No. 13 FLORIDA STATE 66, FLORIDA 62, at Gainesville, Fla. — Chasity Clayton scored 13 points, Christian Hunnicutt added 10 for Florida State (2-0). The Gators (1-1) led 62-60 with 2:02 to play, but the Seminoles scored the last six points.

• HARTFORD 62, No. 23 LOUISVILLE 50, at Hartford, Conn. — Erica Beverly had 14 points and 11 rebounds to help the Hawks (2-0) continued their run of five seasons in which they have beaten a ranked foe.