The season-opening weekend for the UCLA women’s basketball squad truly felt like a tale of two teams.
On Saturday, in their season opener, the Bruins (1-1) lost to Illinois State, 55-61, in the KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge at the University of Iowa.
After falling behind early, UCLA had an uphill battle, as it was out-rebounded by the Redbirds, 44-37. Although ISU shot an abysmal 37.8 percent from the field, connecting on only 17 of 45 shot attempts, the Bruins were even worse.
UCLA shot 29.9 percent from the field, converting 20 of 67 field-goal attempts. In addition, no Bruin player shot 50 percent from the field except senior guard Erica Tukiainen, who went 3-for-5.
“Well, we got behind at the beginning, and we had to play catch-up,” said junior guard Doreena Campbell after Saturday’s season-opening loss. “I think we need to have more team cohesiveness. We need to just play better defense and rebound better so we can limit second-chance opportunities.”
Fast-forward to Sunday.
In their second game of the tournament, the Bruins rolled over the Santa Clara Broncos, 77-51, by eliminating many of the discrepancies that cost them the game against ISU a day earlier.
UCLA dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Broncos, 45-27. To add to that, the Bruins racked up 16 second-chance points and 16 fast-break points, compared to Santa Clara’s five second-chance points and seven fast-break points.
“Definitely our board play was better,” said coach Nikki Caldwell after Sunday’s win. “It started with our team making the decision to be a blue-collar team and work hard every possession.”
According to Caldwell, one of the key differences between the two weekend games was the Bruins’ willingness to play together. On Saturday, UCLA amassed only 13 assists in addition to its poor shooting. But in Sunday’s matchup, the Bruins shot a much-improved 50.8 percent from the field and posted 20 assists in the process.
“This game is going to be played with hard work and together as a unit,” Caldwell said. “There was more individual play (Saturday), but today they were in sync. We talked in our team meeting this morning about synergy. They made up their mind to play the Bruin way.”
Tukiainen seconded her coach’s notions about a lack of togetherness for the Bruins in Saturday’s loss and explained that they made it a point not to let the same thing happen Sunday.
“I think the biggest difference was our energy and commitment to really play together,” Tukiainen said. “We watched film of (Saturday’s) game, and there was a lot of individual play. We made a conscious effort to have good energy, and just having fun and loosening up.”
One of those responsible for the Bruins’ success on the offensive end Sunday was Tukiainen.
“Erica is someone who really worked hard in the off-season to become someone who can score in the half-court for us,” Caldwell said. “(Saturday) I thought she didn’t get enough looks. Our players did a great job of finding her today.”
After posting eight points and one rebound in UCLA’s loss on Saturday, Tukiainen stepped up for the Bruins against Santa Clara, putting up a game-high 21 points and adding five rebounds.
“I’m very pleased with Erica and that she has taken on that responsibility to knock down open shots for us,” Caldwell added.
Tukiainen reiterated the fact that her primary job on this Bruin squad is to be a scorer, a job that she certainly is not taking lightly.
“I was very passive Saturday,” Tukiainen said. “I get shots when my teammates look for me, and I’ll make sure to hit those big shots when we need them.”