Beavers migrate south to play at Pauley
Talented OSU players could pose challenge for unranked
Bruins
By Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA women’s basketball begins its final homestand of the season
tonight against No. 14 Oregon State at Pauley Pavilion.
When the two teams met earlier this year in Corvallis, the
Beavers prevailed 82-70. Leading OSU to victory was senior Tanja
Kostic. The forward, whose effort against UCLA earned her Pac-10
Player of the Week honors, scored 22 points and crashed the boards
for 15 rebounds.
"Kostic is a player where if you leave her alone, she’s going to
end up hurting you," UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said. "We’ve
been working on playing against her all week and just really
denying her the ball. If she can’t get the ball, she can’t
score."
And for one half, the Bruins had done just that, holding Kostic
to six points and three rebounds. But then Kostic exploded in the
second half and led a 22-4 Beaver run that put UCLA away. Kostic
leads the conference in scoring and rebounding, averaging 23.9
points and 11 boards.
Another big factor in the Bruin loss was the fact that they were
ineffective on the glass. Bruin post players Kisa Hughes and Zrinka
Kristich were held to a combined total of 15 points and seven
rebounds as OSU dominated, out-rebounding UCLA 44-22.
"They’re physical," Olivier said. "As far as the rebounding
goes, you never know with us. Hopefully since we’re at home we’ll
be more comfortable and we’ll just be able to take the bang and
bang back."
But there were bright spots for UCLA. Junior Nickey Hilbert had
a good showing against the Beavers, making five three-point
attempts and scoring a game-high 29 points. Erica Gomez added 19
points of her own.
"UCLA is a tough team," OSU head coach Jody Spoelstra said. "We
have to be ready to defend all five of their starters because any
one of this five can hurt you. Gomez has had terrific games, Tawana
Grimes is a good defensive player. Hilbert can really hurt you with
three-point shooting."
Although UCLA has not defeated a ranked team this season,
Olivier feels that the Bruins are prepared to give the Beavers a
tough game.
"Since it’s a strong team and they’re ranked, our team will come
ready to play," Olivier said. "That makes me feel a little better,
but we’re going to have to play good basketball and not make a lot
of mistakes. We just have to make sure that we take care of the
ball and play good defense."
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
UCLA guard Nickey Hilbert (right) hopes to repeat her 29-point
performance against OSU last month.
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