The UCLA women’s basketball team is running out of chances.
Despite playing a solid game and taking care of business against Washington State on Sunday with a 65-50 win, they failed to beat Washington, the team in the Pac-10’s cellar, on Friday.
For a team fighting for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, a loss to the Huskies in addition to an early-season loss to Oregon may prove to be the nail in the coffin. At the very least, Friday’s defeats put immense pressure on UCLA to win out, or at least beat, No. 6 Cal or No. 4 Stanford this upcoming week at home.
“We’ve got four regular season games left,” coach Nikki Caldwell said. “Two of the four are against top-ranked teams, and the other two are on the road. We need to take business on that regard. If we can get victories against our next four opponents, that will get us 20 wins.”
UCLA (16-9, 7-7 Pac-10) split their road games in the Pacific Northwest this weekend with the team’s leading scorer, Doreena Campbell, out of action during Friday’s 59-49 loss to Washington (6-19, 2-13). With Campbell back in the lineup Sunday, the Bruins bounced back to beat Washington State (10-16, 3-12). Nothing seemed to go the Bruins’ way against the Huskies. UCLA turned the ball over 10 times in the first nine minutes of play, allowing Washington to take an early 11-6 lead. Sophomore guard Darxia Morris was able to close the margin 11-10, but the Huskies headed into the second half leading 27-19.
The second half did not fare much better. Washington’s defense held UCLA to a 25.8 percent shooting percentage, and UCLA went 0-6 from 3-point range after intermission. The closest UCLA got to Washington was after the Bruins went on a 6-0 run to close the gap 50-45 with 4:12 left on the clock. But with the Huskies shooting 41 percent on offense and their defense forcing 23 UCLA turnovers in the game, the Bruins could not come away with what was supposed to be an easy win.
“We just didn’t bring it for the full 40 minutes, and we never got into a rhythm,” junior guard Allison Taka said. “It was a game that we should have won.”
The game snapped a 12-game losing streak for Washington, the last-place team in the Pac-10.
“(Washington) played extremely hard,” coach Nikki Caldwell said. “I thought they out-worked us, and they wanted it more than we did.”
The biggest obstacle the Bruins faced in the Washington game was the absence of their leading scorer, sophomore guard Doreena Campbell. Campbell, who has started the past 41 games for the Bruins, was withheld from this weekend’s matches due to blurred vision after suffering a blow to the face during Wednesday’s practice.
“She brings stability, she brings calmness, she brings points, and she brings defense,” Caldwell said. But Caldwell was quick not to place responsibility of the loss on Campbell’s shoulders.
“The energy and intensity wasn’t there, so whether you have Campbell or not, those are things that we can control, and we obviously did not accept that challenge,” Caldwell said.
After a tough practice on Saturday, UCLA rebounded Sunday in the game against Washington State with a 65-50 victory. With Campbell back in action, the Bruins looked more like their normal selves.
“They went out and played how UCLA women’s basketball is supposed to play,” Caldwell said. “I thought we did a good job of sharing the basketball.”
After a slow start, the Bruins hit two consecutive 3-point shots, thanks to the efforts from Campbell and junior guard Erica Tukiainen, to take a 17-9 lead. UCLA then went on a 10-2 scoring run to extend their lead 21-11. At halftime, UCLA went into the locker room up 33-19.
UCLA maintained their lead all throughout the second half and led by as many as 23 points. The Bruins shot 39 percent in the game and had 15 steals. Sophomore forward Nina Earl was big in transition plays and finished with four steals and five points. Campbell made up for missing the Washington game by coming out against the Cougars ready to score. She finished the night with 24 points and went 10-for-10 at the free-throw line.