The Washington State women’s basketball team has never once beaten UCLA in the bubble of Westwood.
The Cougars stand at 0-19 all-time against the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion and 0-3 when the games were played in the Wooden Center.
In fact, Washington State (8-8, 1-4 Pac-10) hasn’t beaten UCLA (12-4, 3-2) since way back in 2001.
But the Bruins are not worried about past records. They know the Cougars of today will test them.
“Washington State is going to be a team that is really going to mix it up and try to get after you defensively,” UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell said. “(April) Cook is leading the way in being that go-to for them along with (Jazmine) Perkins. So you have two young ladies, who, if their perimeter game gets going, their team gets going. So we have been putting a lot of emphasis on our guards to get on that defensively.”
Add senior guard Katie Appleton and her 9.8 points-per-game to the tandem of Cook and Perkins, who both average double digits, and WSU starts looking like a team with good enough guard play to cause problems for the Bruins.
Once again, it will come down to UCLA’s trademark defense and how well they execute ball pressure and defend the Cougars’ perimeter game.
The Bruins struggled to stop Arizona State last week in their first Pac-10 road trip of the season, but senior guard Tierra Henderson said they learned from the 24-point loss.
“Being inconsistent has been one of our main slippages that we have during the game, especially with our defense,” she said. “Usually when we lose, it is our lack of defensive intensity. So just going on the road, you can’t spot a team 15 points and then try to get it all back at once. We learned that we have to be focused from the beginning, and that has to sustain the whole 40 minutes.”
Caldwell largely agreed with Henderson’s evaluation. She said that this UCLA team must win games by being the hardest working team on the court. She said she is still waiting for her group to put together a solid 40 minutes of play.
“We can turn it on when we want to, and when we are off, we are off,” Caldwell said. “I am looking for consistency in our starters and in our bench. What I have learned is that this team has to believe, work hard and become that blue-collar team. We don’t have that Kodak All-American, but what we do have is a team that can get the job done, when they compete on every possession.”
According to Henderson, it will take at least 20 wins to earn the Bruins an NCAA tournament berth, the team’s first since 2006. That means UCLA will have to take care of business during weekends at home and come away with wins. The Bruins dropped a game at home against Oregon already this season, and they will do their best to avoid a similar mishap tonight at home.
After all, they have a 22-game win streak against Washington State on the line.