Stanford seemed ready to coast to another Pac-10 title last night. The lead over UCLA was 7 or 10 or 12 points the entire game.

It was 8 with two minutes left. Then — basket, stop, basket, stop, basket, stop — and it was suddenly down to 2 with ten seconds left. Then — Noelle Quinn sets a low screen, pops out to the free throw line, 15-foot turnaround jumper — overtime.

In the extra frame, the Cardinal looked tired and rattled. No one but Wiggins wanted to shoot, and Candice was guarded too well by the athletic Bruin defenders to be effective. Stanford scored only 6 points, and UCLA came away with its first Pac-10 tournament championship.

"Our players never said die," said coach Kathy Olivier.

UCLA had a ticket already. The outcome of last night's game might bump the Bruins up one seed and Stanford down one seed.

But there may be something larger at stake. Coach Olivier has had a target on her back for a couple years. She has had talent, but her teams haven't always performed. Given UCLA's storied basketball history, and the importance of the program to west coast basketball generally, many observers were expecting/hoping that she'd be gone after this year.

Now... her job is suddenly much more secure.