Even before the Bruins met their opponents Sunday, they were
written off.
With No. 4 Texas coming into Pauley Pavilion on the heels of
beating No. 1 Tennessee, few people gave UCLA even the slightest
chance to score an upset.
But as sophomore Noelle Quinn stepped up to the free-throw line
with her team up by one point with 4.7 seconds left, her face
exuded nothing but the utmost confidence. Quinn calmly knocked down
both of her free throws to put the Bruins up three, and after Texas
forward Heather Schreiber’s last-second 3-pointer rimmed out,
the Bruins mobbed each other at midcourt in their 63-60 triumph
over the Longhorns.
More than anything, upsetting a perennial powerhouse program
like Texas has been something the Bruins have always thought
possible, but rarely accomplished.
“This is what it’s all about, upsetting teams, being
the underdogs, everyone overlooks us all the time,” junior
guard Nikki Blue said. “This year we just wanted to come out
and say UCLA is here, guaranteed.”
Last year’s Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, Quinn struggled
mightily in the first half on Sunday, finding the basket only three
times in 13 attempts. Though she didn’t hit her first basket
until the middle of the first half, Quinn didn’t let her
struggles deter her, even in the face of a 17-point deficit. The
sophomore led UCLA’s dramatic second-half comeback, finishing
with a game-high 27 points and snagging down a team-high 11
rebounds.
But as courageous as Quinn’s second-half performance was,
it almost became an afterthought. With less than five seconds
remaining, Schreiber, who had missed all of her seven prior shot
attempts, found herself wide open along the right baseline with a
chance to send the game into overtime, but her shot was just off
the mark.
“Oh my gosh, she had a great look at the three,”
UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said.
“The game is not over until it’s over, because we
had a couple of those last year fall in. This year it just
didn’t fall.”
While Texas had its chances dashed after watching a pair of free
throws from Longhorn Nina Norman go awry with six seconds
remaining, Texas coach Jody Conradt felt that the game
shouldn’t have come down to the final seconds.
“Those kinds of plays shouldn’t determine whether
you win or lose, it needed to happen a lot earlier,” Conradt
said.
“We allowed UCLA to make shots to get confident to get
momentum. It’s typical of the kind of game when you’re
on the road. Things went well for them.”
And while things appeared to be going UCLA’s way for Texas
and sophomore-phenom Tiffany Jackson early in the game, the Bruins
stemmed the tide behind their tenacious defense.
UCLA forced the Longhorns into 20 turnovers, twice as many as
the Bruins committed, and limited Jackson after the freshman
All-American got off to a stellar start.
In the second half, UCLA repeatedly put multiple defenders on
Jackson, who was forced to kick the ball out to Texas’
perimeter shooters.
Olivier’s gamble of clogging the inside and leaving the
jumpshooters open paid off, as Longhorn guards combined for
shooting 3-for-14 from beyond the arc in the game.
“(The Bruins) put three people on (Jackson)” Conradt
said. “We didn’t have enough firepower anywhere else.
Jamie (Carey) did hit some shots, but they guarded Tiffany with
everyone on their team.”
The inspirational play of the Bruins was exemplified by Blue,
who played all 40 minutes despite still recovering from an injured
right ankle.
The emotional leader of the team, Blue was constantly in her
teammates’ ears, pleading for them to keep their focus,
knowing that any mistake against a team like Texas would be
costly.
“I’ve been telling myself that ever since I’ve
gotten hurt, this was a big game, and I wasn’t going to let
anything get to me,” Blue said. “I don’t care how
much it hurts. I took it as a mental thing that I was going to come
out here and play my butt off.”
But in the first 10 minutes of play, the Bruins’ offense
looked anything but inspired. In fact, it stalled.
UCLA opened the game a paltry 1-for-16 shooting from the
field.
But even though Texas went on a 16-2 run to take an early
17-point lead, UCLA somehow managed to scrounge together an 11-2
run of its own, closing the gap to eight points by the end of the
half.
According to Olivier, the surge at the end of the half was what
made them confident that a second-half comeback was possible.
“We said at halftime that we wish there wasn’t a
halftime,” Olivier said.
“As much as we can get down by a lot quickly we can also
come back so we got to keep our heads up and play
together.”
The 12 players wearing UCLA jerseys never stopped believing.
And after their performance against Texas, the Bruins now have
everyone believing.