Freshman Noelle Quinn can add yet another item to her already
growing list of impressive accomplishments: her first career
triple-double.
Behind her 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and Lisa
Willis’s career-high 31 points, UCLA took care of business at
Cal, 97-69, setting up a Saturday showdown against Pac-10 leader
No. 10 Stanford.
The win marked the sixth straight for UCLA.
“We came in with the mindset that we weren’t going
to let Cal get into the game,” Quinn said. “We knew
this weekend wouldn’t mean anything without beating Cal. We
needed this kind of a win to get into a groove before heading down
to Palo Alto.”
UCLA (15-10, 10-6 Pac-10) squashed any concerns that they were
overlooking Cal by jumping out to a 22-6 lead to begin the game,
building a 45-25 halftime advantage. From there, Cal (9-15, 2-13
Pac-10) never mounted much of a charge, as the Golden Bears never
got closer than 19 down.
It was a game where everything clicked for UCLA. The Bruins
utilized a pressure defense, as Willis and Quinn combined for 11
steals. Off of that defense, UCLA pushed the ball and got layup
after layup. The 97 points were a season-high for the Bruins, and
the team shot 57 percent from the field while converting 8-of-13
three-point attempts.
In particular, Quinn ran the offense to near perfection. Her
triple-double is the first in eight years for UCLA and the fourth
overall in UCLA history. Quinn, who earned Pac-10 Player of the
Week honors last week, thought she had missed out on a
triple-double by one rebound until being informed of the truth
after the game.
“I’ve never seen that kind of a performance
before,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “Once she got
comfortable a few weeks ago, you could see it in her eyes and in
the fluidness of her game ““ she was taking it to the next
level.”
Making a late-season run for a postseason bid, a loss to Cal
would have all but put the Bruins out of contention. As it is,
UCLA’s meeting with Stanford now has both Pac-10 and NCAA
tournament seeding implications.
“We have to play on all cylinders,” Olivier said.
“We can’t afford to be down in any area. We certainly
have the confidence now, and we can get the upset, but it
won’t be easy.”
While not quite a must-win situation, a victory over the
Cardinal would go a long way toward securing an NCAA tournament
berth.