Pauley Pavilion turned pink Saturday afternoon for Breast Cancer Awareness Day, with the majority of the 1,572 fans in attendance sporting pink T-shirts made for the occasion.
And in the first half of Saturday’s women’s basketball game against Arizona State, UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell presented a special challenge to her Bruins.
“I said, “˜There are a lot of people out there battling for their lives,'” she recalled telling them. “”˜We are just battling on the court for a rebound. So let’s pay tribute to them.’ And I think we did that; we played as hard as we could.”
The large crowd who came out to support a good cause were treated to a close game Saturday, and they responded by making Pauley as raucous and loud as it has been all season for a women’s game ““ cheering UCLA’s seemingly inspired play on down the stretch.
But when it all was over, the end result was another loss, 69-66, for a Bruin team that desperately needed a signature win.
“It’s not enough just to play and put a game almost into overtime,” Caldwell said. “You have to go out and get wins. Our opportunities are slowly slipping away from us, but there are still quite a few more games to be won.”
Wearing custom pink jerseys, the Bruins (15-8, 6-6 Pac-10) gave the Sun Devils (19-6, 11-2 Pac-10) absolutely all they could handle, battling back in dramatic fashion from a 10-point halftime deficit to tie the game at 65 with 24.8 seconds to go.
After the Bruins drew within two, thanks to a bucket off a missed free-throw by junior center Moniquee Alexander, the Sun Devils’ leading scorer Briann January drew an offensive player-control foul when she caught the inbound pass with elbows swinging.
The foul charged up the crowd and the players, as it set up a chance for UCLA to tie or take the lead for only the fourth time during the game.
“When Tierra Henderson got that charge on January, I’m very composed, but I was screaming, I was hollering, I was excited,” junior guard Erica Tukiainen said. “I could feel the win in my bones and my blood.”
The Bruins fed off the emotions on their next possession, as sophomore guard Doreena Campbell hit a tough layup to tie the game. Arizona State took a timeout and held for the last shot.
But as Sun Devil guard Dymond Simon initiated the offense, dribbling hard around the corner, Campbell’s hand and Simon’s head touched, Simon flailed backwards, and Campbell was called for a hand check.
“It was difficult because she is a little shorter,” Campbell said of Simon. “So my hand was out, and when she was coming, her head went into my hand, and she yanked back. It was unfortunate, but the call could go either way.”
Simon hit both her free throws to put the Sun Devils up two. UCLA called a timeout with 4.6 seconds remaining, and before the ball was inbounded, another foul was called ““ this time a push on an Arizona State player that sent Campbell to the line. Campbell, one the Bruins’ best free-throw shooters, made the first but missed the second. The Sun Devils would add two more points off free throws, to bring the final score to 69-66.
In post-game interviews, both coaches scoffed at the officiating, acknowledging there were questionable calls on both sides.
“When you play UCLA, it’s going to be physical,” said Simon who ended the afternoon with 19 points.
Sun Devils coach Charli Turner Thorne said she was just proud of her team, who, with Saturday’s win, set a school record with their 11th victory in a row.
“We really did a great job just staying with things against a team that has some big shots,” she said.
For the Bruins, however, players and coaches once again pointed to playing an incomplete game, saying they played better defense and had better intensity in the second half.
Though the Bruins lost, this was the closest they have come this season to upsetting one of the Pac-10’s top teams, and the team took a lot of positives from that.
“Once again, second half we came out stronger, but first half we dug ourselves in a hole,” Tukiainen said. “But I think we are going forward because we were able to come back. But can we put it all together? That is the next step.”