After splitting two exhibition games to open the season, the
women’s basketball team came out on Sunday with something to
prove.
And behind a career night by Lindsey Pluimer, the Bruins did
exactly that with a blowout 87-62 win over UCSB at Pauley
Pavilion.
The Bruins came out firing to start the game, jumping out to an
11-3 lead as Chinyere Ibekwe dominated the inside early on.
UCLA fell behind in the middle of the first half but stayed
within striking distance until its offense exploded with five
minutes remaining, going on a 21-6 run to end the first period of
play up 43-31.
The defense constantly frustrated the outsized Gauchos, who were
out-rebounded by 22 and looked mismatched at every position.
“I thought we did a great job on the defensive end,”
UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. “For them to shoot 33 percent
““ that’s something we haven’t done in the
exhibition games.”
Pluimer led the Bruins with a career-high 23 points and racked
up 11 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass.
The Bruins continually took advantage of their height, pulling
down 30 offensive rebounds.
“We just took it to them,” Olivier said.
“Sometimes when you play smaller teams you’re a little
more tentative, and I thought our team played very aggressive. I
think the O-boards proved that.”
UCLA hardly ever got beat in transition, something that the team
struggled with at times in the exhibition games, and the Bruins
showed their athleticism against a fast UCSB squad.
“In the exhibition games we felt like we weren’t
running as well as we could,” Pluimer said. “We really
worked on that this week and just getting up and down the lanes and
beating the ball down the court.”
Olivier also credited players coming off the bench, including
Amy Horton, Moniquee Alexander and Erica Latimer, who all played
major minutes, as a big part of the Bruins’ success on
Sunday.