W. basketball falls to No. 15 Washington, 81-68
By Hye Kwon
After suffering a narrow loss to Washington State last Thursday,
the UCLA women’s basketball team traveled across Washington only to
receive a 81-68 whipping from No. 15 Washington on Saturday.
The Bruins (6-7 overall, 1-3 in Pac-10) had hoped to bounce back
and beat a ranked opponent for the second time in two weeks. Last
week the Bruins defeated Oregon State, a current top-20 team, after
suffering a disappointing loss to Oregon. But the veteran
Washington squad would have no part in such a storyline.
The Bruins played a fine first half against the Huskies (13-4,
3-1), thanks to center Kisa Hughes. She scored 15 points and pulled
down four rebounds, while her team shot a blistering 57 percent
from the floor. The Bruins got an eight point lead on eight
occasions.
After a 17-6 Husky run, UCLA trailed 38-33 at intermission. But
coming out of the locker room, the Bruins were hot once again. With
17 minutes to go in regulation, UCLA’s Kellie Bennett sank an
eight-foot jumper in the lane to give the Bruins a 43-42 lead.
Unfortunately, that was the last time the Bruins led in the
game.
A 12-foot jumper by Husky guard Katia Foucade gave her team a
44-43 lead in the second half. From then on, the Huskies built up a
considerable margin, and the hope of an upset was slowly
vanishing.
Center Rhonda Smith was a huge factor in the second half for
Washington as she broke down the Bruin interior defense. Smith
finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Nine of her boards were
offensive rebounds which gave her easy put-back opportunities time
and time again. The Huskies also received contributions from their
guards Foucade and Laure Savasta.
Foucade finished with 12 points, four rebounds and 10 assists.
Her fellow backcourt player Savasta scored a team-high 20
points.
For UCLA, Hughes led the charge with 21 points and nine
rebounds. Bennett, who gave the Bruins a huge lift at the start of
the second half, finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Guard
Nikki Hilbert scored 14 points and tallied four steals