At long last there will be more than bragging rights on the line
when UCLA and USC renew their women’s basketball crosstown
rivalry in the regular season finale for both teams Sunday.
With the Pac-10 tournament just a week away, both teams have
their eyes set on getting off the bubble and into the NCAA
tournament.
“Both teams need this win,” coach Kathy Olivier
said. “It seems like each of our past games have been big,
but this one is doubly big. We’re both playing good
basketball right now, and we’re both considered bubble teams
for the NCAA tournament.”
UCLA (15-11, 10-7 Pac-10) has won six of its last seven games,
and a pair of ugly losses to St. Mary’s and Oregon loom
large. The Bruins will probably need two to three more wins to earn
an NCAA tournament invitation. Should UCLA lose this game, it will
likely have to win the Pac-10 tournament to make the NCAA field.
Further complicating matters, the Bruins and Trojans (15-11, 11-6)
““ regardless of who wins or loses ““ will likely face
each other again in the first round of the tournament, raising
questions about whether either team wants to show too much during
the first game.
“It’s not that it scares me, but it’s just so
unusual for it to come down to the rivalry,” Olivier said.
“I don’t like that it does. You always want to play
your rivals, but not twice in a row.”
Despite the postseason implications, the emotion and intensity
surrounding the rivalry game is not lost on the players. One of the
particularly anticipated battles will be the one in the post
between senior forwards Ebony Hoffman of USC and Jamila Veasley of
UCLA.
“There has always been animosity between us since
I’ve known her in the seventh to eighth grade,” Veasley
said. “We’ve just never gotten along. You always want
to step up against your hometown rival. We’re going to have a
showdown on Sunday.”
UCLA last played USC at the end of December in both teams’
Pac-10 opener. The Trojans won, 64-51, behind Hoffman’s 17
points and 11 rebounds. Still, it was USC’s defense that
forced 24 turnovers and held the Bruins to 32 percent shooting from
the field.
“They’re known for their defense,” Olivier
said. “But USC will be facing a very different team. We were
still getting a feel for our game, and we now have a lot more
confidence and maturity than we did back then.”
USC will likely enter Pauley Pavilion angry following its upset
loss to ninth-place Cal in its last Pac-10 game. The Trojans, as
they have each of the past three seasons, are guided by the
6-foot-2 Hoffman, who leads the Trojans with 15 points and 7.8
rebounds a game. The Bruins will likely counter with an array of
post players including Veasley, Whitney Jones and Amanda
Livingston.
“You don’t shut someone like that down,”
Olivier said.
UCLA will counter offensively with its trio of starting guards
““ Lisa Willis, Nikki Blue and Noelle Quinn. The three have
accounted for more than two-thirds of the Bruins’ points on
the season.
For UCLA, it’s a case of déjà vu. Last year,
going down the stretch, the Bruins were one of the bubble teams
that didn’t make it into the NCAA tournament. Citing a
tougher preseason schedule and a stronger Pac-10 conference,
Olivier believes this year will be different ““ provided UCLA
finishes strong.
“You play 27 games this season,” Olivier said.
“And it comes down to this.”