This afternoon, the women’s hoops team heads to the desert
to take on Arizona and Arizona State. The Bruins are not looking
for the Promised Land, just a pair of wins.
The Bruins (9-10, 3-4 Pac-10) face the No. 10 Arizona State Sun
Devils (16-2, 6-1 Pac-10) tonight in Tempe, and butt heads with the
Wildcats of Arizona (7-12, 1-6 Pac-10) in Tucson on Saturday.
UCLA has flashed brilliance in certain games this season but has
yet to put it all together. Falling behind early and being forced
to play from behind has been a constant; the Bruins look to this
weekend as a shot at playing a full 40-minute game.
“We need to play a game for 40 minutes,” senior
guard Noelle Quinn said. “We dig ourselves in a hole by half,
then want to play hard the last two minutes of the game. We just
(need to) come out with the desire to play like we always play in
those last two minutes, because we always come back. If we start
the game how we always finish the game, that’s the thing that
would really help us out. And just being consistent.”
The Bruins have been outscored by a combined total of 47 points
in the first halves of all their games but have outscored their
opponents by 44 in the second halves. Part of this discrepancy may
come from the team’s need to find the right lineup to match
up favorably against other teams, not wanting to sacrifice scoring
for defense.
“When we go with our quicker, more defensive lineup and we
start pressing, you see more traps,” Quinn said. “I
think that gets our momentum going. We put a lineup in and
immediately we’re trapping and pressing, and that changes the
complexity of the game.
“If we’re able to make it more of a defensive game,
I think that will help us too, because we’re such a
fast-paced team. Our defense is going to propel our offense. So if
we’re getting steals and trapping, that helps a lot. Our
intensity on defense, if that picks up, that will help us.
That’s how Amanda (Livingston) and Ray Ray (Chinyere Ibekwe)
get easy buckets, just in transition and off of steals,” she
said.
Getting the inside game involved has been critical for the
Bruins, who often see unusual defenses, such as box-and-1s,
intended to try to stop Quinn. Ibekwe will be an important factor
for the Bruins in putting together some complete games, even though
she sees UCLA’s second scoring option more as a committee of
whoever’s shooting well.
“If the posts are hot, the posts are hot,” Ibekwe
said after Saturday’s loss. “Noelle’s obviously a
very unselfish player, so whoever she’s looking to get the
ball to, we have to execute. Everybody needs to contribute whatever
they need to contribute to win the basketball game.”
If Livingston and Ibekwe are able to repeat their performances
from certain parts of Saturday’s game, the Bruins have a very
good chance of leaving Arizona with two wins.
“Amanda has had a couple of great games. Even though we
haven’t won them, she’s shown she can shoot the
ball,” Quinn said. “She’s playing hard. Same with
Ray Ray. If we could get our posts consistent, along with our guard
play, I think we’ll be good ““ just sustaining for 40
minutes of play, because we can challenge every team in the
country.”