Thursday, March 6, 1997
W. HOOPS:
UCLA faces Huskies with hopes of avenging earlier loss By
Anthony Carter
Daily Bruin Contributor
A long season of ups and downs has finally come down to this
 two home games. Tonight and Saturday will mark the last two
times the UCLA women’s basketball team will play at Pauley Pavilion
this season. In fact, the Bruins will be ending the season with
those games.
This evening’s game will be a rematch with Washington, which
beat up on the Bruins (12-13, 6-10 Pac-10) 98-75 in Seattle. That
was back when UCLA was riding high, having won seven of its first
10 games, including a 73-61 defeat of then No. 9 Western Kentucky.
The Washington loss marked the first setback in a slump which saw
the Bruins lose six of seven and 10 of 15.
The Bruins, however, have solidified a sixth place conference
finish, having won two of their last four games. They look to
finish the season strong and with a winning record. Washington, on
the other hand, stands in fifth place in the conference with a
record of 15-10, 10-6 Pac-10, just two games behind second-place
USC. The Huskies hope to gain some ground this week on the
Trojans.
However, the Bruins have something to say about that. They no
longer feel they’re the same team that fell out of the Pac-10 race
earlier in the season.
"We’re much more physical and much more aggressive than we were
(at that point of the) season," UCLA associate head coach Willette
White said. "We’re just a better basketball team."
One difference that stands out on this improved team is freshman
Melanie Pearson, who is at 100 percent after struggling earlier in
the season while recovering from illness. Pearson is currently
second in the conference in three-point field-goal percentage at
41.1 percent and 10th in the conference in free throw percentage,
having made 25 of her last 29.
Another major difference in the team is the fact that it has now
played 27 games together and its players have now gotten used to
each other.
"We’ve definitely matured as a team," White said. "Tonight will
be our chance to show everyone else."