Only four days after putting a scare into the hearts of the
defending national champion Baylor Bears on their home floor, the
UCLA women’s basketball team failed to put away a team
considered more of a stepping-stone to the next game than a
calendar-highlighting opponent.
In the home opener of a season met with lofty expectations, UCLA
suffered a tough loss to Brigham Young, 71-67. While the Bruins
insisted on their readiness to take that much-anticipated
“next step” and put their underachievements behind
them, Tuesday’s loss conjured some very familiar
memories.
Just as in recent years, UCLA was haunted by poor rebounding and
weak play in the paint. The Bruins were out-rebounded 52-27, with
BYU grabbing 21 offensive boards to UCLA’s 10 and getting
plenty of second and third chances on single possessions.
“So much of rebounding is just about heart,” coach
Kathy Olivier said. “What annoys me is they came into our
house and just wanted the ball more than we did. And that was
ridiculous.”
Aside from being dominated under the basket, the Bruins were
dreadful from the free-throw line. Senior guard Lisa Willis, who
shot 80.2 percent from the charity stripe last year, was just 2-7
on the night, and the team as a whole made only 12 out of 25.
Even more disappointing is the fact that UCLA outplayed BYU in
just about every other facet of the game. The trio of Willis,
junior Noelle Quinn and senior Nikki Blue helped UCLA force 26
turnovers with its full-court press, and the Bruins outran the
Cougars up and down the court.
With the Bruins down 70-67 in the final 23 seconds, Willis took
three attempts from behind the arc to tie the game. Each went in
and out.
“Those were big shots that my team needed me to
hit,” Willis said.
But had UCLA done a better job on the boards, the game would
never have come down to those final attempts.
“You can cut the numbers any way you want,” Olivier
said. “We lost because of our rebounding, and that’s
still a problem from the past couple of years.”
Quinn had the hot hand in the first half, with 12 points before
intermission. However, she saw fewer touches in the second half,
finishing with 16 points on 8-15 shooting from the field.
“It’s still early on in the season, and I guarantee
you I will get those looks later,” Quinn said.
Willis had a forgettable night on both ends of the floor. She
shot only 1-5 from 3-point range and was part of a Bruin defense
that proved unable to contain BYU senior forward Ambrosia Anderson,
who led the Cougars with 26 points and nine rebounds.
Unlike the Baylor game, nobody was prepared to view
Tuesday’s loss as a moral victory. It was a game the team
expected to win.
“This was supposed to be a game where you prepare yourself
for another game. We looked over this game,” Willis said.