USC Rallies to Turn Back UCLA : Women’s basketball: Trojans score final four points in 56-55 victory.

Tina Thompson scored on a short jumper off an assist by Audrey Gomez with nine seconds to play Saturday, enabling the USC women’s basketball team to hand UCLA its fourth consecutive loss, 56-55, before 3,612 at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA missed two chances to win in the final seconds. After making a length-of-the-court drive, Nicky Hilbert had a shot blocked out of bounds, and a 20-foot shot by Hilbert failed to draw iron at the buzzer.

The score was close throughout the game, with the spread never wider than eight points. UCLA, in fact, had a 54-52 lead with 2:11 to play after Hilbert made a steal at midcourt and scored on a layup. Then Tawana Grimes’ free throw made the score 55-52 with 1:57 left.

But two free throws by Karleen Shields with 53 seconds to play cut USC’s deficit to 55-54, and then came Thompson’s game-winner.

Thompson, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, had missed five of six free throws down the stretch. But she got open under the basket and Gomez found her with a pass from the right side of the free-throw line.

Contact occurred under the Trojan basket on Hilbert’s court-long drive, but no whistle blew.

USC, 12-5 overall and 5-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference, is second in the conference. Stanford, 8-1 in Pac-10 play, looks like a lock to dethrone USC as conference champion.

UCLA (7-11, 2-7) showed outstanding perimeter defense, forcing 18 turnovers, but was hurt inside by Thompson (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Rashida Jeffery (10 points, six rebounds).

UCLA’s Kisa Hughes kept her team close down the stretch and finished with a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds. USC had a six-rebound edge overall, but a 21-10 edge in offensive rebounds.

USC tried to bury UCLA early in the second half after leading at halftime, 27-24. Thompson started the half with a 16-footer, Jeffery scored underneath and Thompson scored on a follow shot.

That made the score 35-27, but it was to be the game’s biggest lead.

The 6-4 Hughes scored on a free throw and a short shot, then a three-pointer by Allison Arredondo brought UCLA to within 35-33.

Hilbert’s three-pointer tied the score at 38-38, and Hughes’ drive with 10:11 left gave UCLA its first lead, 44-42. The Bruins then lost and regained the lead three times in the closing minutes, showing Coach Kathy Olivier a thin ray of hope in a disappointing season.

“With just a little more experience, we could have pulled it off,” she said. “We’ve shown we can play with anyone in the conference. We have nine games left; we can pick it up.”