The UCLA women’s basketball team is preparing for a busy and important weekend.
UCLA will play Arizona tonight in Pauley Pavilion before hosting the First Annual Carnival for the Cure prior to Saturday’s breast cancer awareness game against Arizona State.
But aside from the events, the Bruins have a pair of vital games to play. After coming off of a loss to USC last weekend, UCLA (14-7, 5-5 Pac-10) sits in the middle of the Pac-10. The Bruins must take the advantage of playing at home by capturing two much-needed victories.
“You have got to represent your court advantage and having a great record in Pauley,” coach Nikki Caldwell said. “We split up there and hopefully we can do better than that this go-around.”
When the Bruins traveled to Tucson, Ariz., to play the Wildcats (9-13, 2-9) in mid-January, UCLA won 48-38. The Bruin defense stepped up in that game, holding Arizona to a lowly 23.4 shooting percentage. The offense did its part, led by sophomore guard Doreena Campbell’s 17 points.
Now Arizona enters tonight’s game tied with Washington State for eighth place in the Pac-10. To prepare for the Wildcats, the Bruins have focused on keeping a high level of intensity throughout full possessions in order to push for points ““ something that the team has lacked when they have fallen behind this season.
“We did a lot of two-minute drills, where you have two minutes and you are down and then see how we fought back,” Caldwell said.
Arizona’s go-to player is sophomore forward Ify Ibekwe, who is the younger sister of UCLA’s senior center Chinyere Ibekwe. This game marks the third time the sisters have competed against each other.
“I come from a family where four of my siblings play basketball,” Chinyere Ibekwe said. “I am definitely proud of her. She is younger than me but she inspires me to work harder.”
While Arizona as a team does not rank very high in conference rebounding, Ify is the Pac-10’s individual leading rebounder. She averages 11.3 rebounds per game. Ify is also ranked second in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game. According to Chinyere, the sisters often talk about which team will come out on top.
“I always say that UCLA is going to beat Arizona,” Chinyere said. “She’ll respond that, “˜I’m still going to give your team 20 points.’ She still performs well even though her team is probably not in the best position.”
Tonight’s game will be the only night of the week that the Bruins will wear their traditional blue and gold uniforms. For the game on Valentine’s Day against ASU (17-6, 9-2), UCLA will don specially made pink and white uniforms in order to raise breast cancer awareness. The custom jerseys will be auctioned off online with the proceeds going to the Kay Yow/Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association Cancer Fund, the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center and the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Education and Resource Center.
“It’s about us paying respect to those who have succumbed to it and those who are still battling it,” Caldwell said. “We’ll battle for rebounds, we’ll battle for loose balls, but there are people out there that are battling for their lives.”