Friday, March 7, 1997
W. HOOPS:
UCLA’s first-half lead slips away in game’s closing secondsBy
Anthony Carter
Daily Bruin Contributor
Another day, another hard fought Bruin … loss.
The UCLA women’s basketball team came out on a tear in last
night’s contest versus the University of Washington in Pauley
Pavilion. But the Bruins fell short of victory in the closing
seconds as Washington prevailed 76-75.
Before the Huskies could even breathe, the Bruins had an 18-10
lead with 12:32 remaining in the first half. Freshman Maylana
Martin scored the first of 12 straight Bruin points during the run.
Martin would finish with a career-high 33 points in the game on an
astounding 13-of-15 shooting performance. She also recorded a
season-low zero turnovers.
However, Husky sophomore Jamie Redd started off the second half
by outscoring the Bruins 6-0 amid a 9-0 run by Washington. That run
brought the Huskies within one, 44-43. With 13:24 left in the half
the Bruins would take a 50-48 lead after freshman Janae Hubbard’s
basket. Hubbard finished up her 12 minutes of play and freshman
Melanie Pearson reentered the game. Pearson would contribute six of
her 19 points down the stretch as the Bruins kept pace with the
fifth place Huskies. Pearson got a team-high 8 rebounds, as well,
to pace the Bruins who were outrebounded 39-38.
With 12:39 remaining Redd hit her third trey, putting the
Huskies up 51-50. The lead would change hands five more times until
Washington finally pulled out the victory on a game winner by
senior Laure Savasta.
"Defensively, we let them get too many looks," UCLA head coach
Kathy Olivier said. That and our free throw shooting killed
us."