As the game clock wound down on the UCLA women’s
basketball’s hopes of a jolting upset of sixth-ranked and
defending national champion Baylor, Bruin coach Kathy Olivier was
torn. After shaking hands with Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson,
she gathered her players for a quick talk. Olivier and her players
had a feeling of disappointment, but also carried with them hope
for what lies ahead. Following a draining 93-85 defeat in her
team’s season opener, Olivier was having trouble defining
exactly what kind of a game it was. While the Bruins did lose their
first game of the 2005-06 season, they couldn’t help but feel
good about giving one of the nation’s elite teams a real
scare on its home court. The Lady Bears were motivated by a rowdy
crowd of 9,065 fans and a pregame ceremony that unveiled last
season’s championship banner, but the Bruins were unfazed and
came out of the gate shooting well and running the floor with an
unmistakable swagger. “We didn’t come all this way to
lose,” said junior guard Noelle Quinn, who was playing in her
first regular season game since recovering from an ACL tear to her
right knee. “We came in here with a chip on our shoulders,
like we knew we had something to prove. “Nobody on this team
is satisfied with the loss, but I think we definitely proved we can
play with anybody.” Coaches are never big believers in
phrases such as “moral victory,” but Olivier admitted
there were a lot more positives than negatives to take away from
this game. UCLA battled back from deficits of eight, nine, 12 and
14 in the second half to give the Baylor crowd a few tense moments.
But while the Lady Bear tandem of senior forward Sophia Young and
junior guard Angela Tinsdale proved too much to contain, senior
guard Lisa Willis emerged from a first-half funk with six
3-pointers for the Bruins in the second half of the ball game.
Willis finished with a team-high 22 points and four assists. Quinn
showed no ill effects in her return as she ushered in the 2005-06
campaign with a double-double, notching 20 points, 11 rebounds and
four assists. Senior point guard Nikki Blue, the final piece of the
Bruins’ hyped “triple threat,” engineered a
fast-paced game and played strong on-ball defense. Continuing a
familiar theme from the past two Bruin teams, Olivier received
little production from her post players and bench. UCLA’s
starting five scored 76 of the team’s 85 points. For the Lady
Bears, Young and junior forward Abiola Wabara dominated the paint,
and Baylor out-rebounded UCLA 44 to 33. The Bruins’ post
players also got into serious foul trouble early in the game.
Junior forward Amanda Livingston and sophomore forward Lindsey
Pluimer missed big chunks of the game due to fouls, and
Baylor’s Young and Wabara took advantage. “We need to
rebound better, there’s no doubt about that,” said
Pluimer, who finished with 14 points and only four rebounds.
“They just had the advantage on the boards, and that was big
difference in the outcome of the game.” Olivier reiterated
that her team needs to continue to improve on its physical play
under the basket and have more bench players step up during key
stretches of the game, but she knows there is a bigger perspective
when looking at the loss. “I’m going to make sure we
improve on our weakness, but I am encouraged and excited by what I
saw,” Olivier said. “I saw a team that wasn’t
afraid to take on the champs and never quit. “But we now we
have to build on that, and get some W’s.”
LEZCANO OUT: Junior center Consuelo Lezcano,
who battled her way into more playing time this season, separated
her right shoulder last Wednesday and didn’t play against
Baylor. Lezcano’s shoulder has been popped back into place,
and she is questionable for the home opener against Brigham Young
University on Tuesday night.