For the UCLA women’s basketball team, a two-week
exhibition tour in Australia was simply meant to be a tune-up for
the upcoming season.
The players were to work on basketball fundamentals, team
cohesion and defense to prepare for what many are predicting a
preseason top-20 team.
But it ended up becoming much more.
“The whole thing was just about getting more experience
around the team than playing basketball,” junior Noelle Quinn
said. “We did a lot of traveling together and did some other
unique things that strengthened the team.”
Flights lasting over half a day, shopping trips, journeys
through shark-infested waters and visits to aboriginal sites may
have served a greater purpose than the on-court experience the
Bruins gained this past week, but their game play was impressive
enough on its own.
UCLA finished the trip with a 3-1 record against their
Australian opponents, which included the Australian Junior National
Team, the Bankstown Bruins and the Townsville Fire.
After starting off the trip with a win over the Sutherland
Sharks, the Bruins faced off against the Australian Junior National
Team and fought back from what was at one point a 38-21 deficit to
force the game to overtime.
Nikki Blue scored the first seven points in overtime and Lisa
Willis cemented the victory with a bucket in 17 seconds left to
play and a tipped pass that led to a Bruin steal for the 91-89
win.
UCLA had a somewhat easier time with Bankstown, opening up what
was a close three quarters with a strong fourth, outscoring their
rival Bruins 28-16 in the final quarter en route to an 83-70
victory. Willis led the team with 21 points, with Lindsey Pluimer
right behind her with 19.
In the final game of the tournament, the Bruins headed for
Cairns for a match against the Townsville Fire, which proved to be
UCLA’s only loss of the trip. The Bruins nearly found their
way out of a 26-point hole early in the game with a frantic
comeback attempt that would eventually fall short at 81-72. Quinn
led the team with a 27-point effort, fronting the comeback attempt
with 10 points in the final quarter.
“Overall, we did a good job,” Quinn said. “We
had some tough games where we had to battle against a few tough
opponents. We were down pretty bad (against the Junior National
Team) and fought back to win in overtime which taught us that even
if we’re down, if we keep at it and stick with the game plan,
we can accomplish a lot.”
In these preseason games, the Bruins tried some new things and
focused on strengthening their game in a few key areas.
“We got some new looks that we didn’t have time to
put in for last season,” Quinn said.
This season’s team looks very similar to last year’s
squad, which battled through a somewhat disappointing season,
failing to make the NCAA tournament. But last year’s
performance has not discouraged Quinn from setting a Final Four
appearance as one of her team goals for this year.
“I am a very optimistic person,” Quinn said.
“If you look at the team, it is almost the same as last year,
and I think that if we work extra hard that goal can be
accomplished.”
With little change in team makeup and work to be done to reach
greater heights, something creative had to be done. A trip Down
Under, featuring formidable opponents and tightened friendships,
may have just been the first step.