Though her size poses a formidable threat to opponents, 6-foot-4
Consuelo Lezcano has spent the majority of her two seasons as a
Bruin on the bench. But this past weekend up at Washington, Lezcano
had her most impressive stretch of games in her career. In the two
victories over Washington State and Washington, the sophomore
center played 14 minutes in each contest and was able to hit a
combined 5 of 6 from the field for a total of 15 points. Those
numbers may not seem impressive at face value, but the Marathon,
Fla. native doubled her average scoring output and received nearly
triple the amount of playing time. “I finally got a chance to
go in there, be in there long enough to where I warmed up, and
finally do what the coaches asked of me,” Lezcano said.
“She played really well; she came in and gave us an offensive
spark,” UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. “Offensively she
knows how to score, and if she does better she’ll see more
and more minutes, but she needs more experience.” In her
first season as a Bruin, Lezcano only saw action in eight games for
a total of 26 minutes, but has made noticeable strides since her
freshman year. “I guess it is frustrating, but there are a
lot of things that come up with competing in Division-I
basketball,” Lezcano said. “It’s been a hard
change from high school, where I played all the time, to going to
college and not seeing many minutes at all.” Lezcano has
shown promise during practice and in the few minutes she receives
during games, but she still has not seen consistent playing time.
According to Olivier, Lezcano’s minimal time on the floor has
been in large part because of her lack of awareness on the
defensive end. “I can’t just say it’s one thing;
it’s several,” Olivier said. “She’s getting
more comfortable with the style of defense. It’ll just be a
matter of time.” To Lezcano, what she needs to earn more
playing time is simple. “I need to stop so much thinking and
just play basketball,” Lezcano said.
BRUINS MOVING ON UP: The Bruins moved up to No.
19 after vacillating around No. 22 for the past two weeks. UCLA has
been ranked as high as No. 16, but they tailed off after dropping
two consecutive road games to Illinois and Ohio State during the
middle of December. Although the Bruins are steadily improving,
with players such as junior guard Nikki Blue recovering from her
various injuries, Olivier does not believe in taking any weight on
the rankings. “It’s still early in the season.”
Olivier said. “I think we were up there in the past and we
didn’t do anything with that. Hopefully, we don’t care
about the polls and we keep playing.”