Junior guard Markel Walker battles for the ball against an Oregon player as senior forward Rebekah Gardner looks on. Walker leads UCLA in rebounds, averaging 10.5 a game.
After a rough road trip to the Bay Area last weekend that capped off a month of playing two games a week, the UCLA women’s basketball team returned home on Sunday to some much needed rest.
“The biggest thing is that we need to get them off their legs,” coach Cori Close said. “The reality is that at this point in the season where they have been logging so many minutes, we need to get them some rest. And not only physical rest but mental rest.”
With their rematch against USC not until Sunday, the Bruins have a full week to catch their breath before tackling the last five games in their grueling conference schedule.
And UCLA’s final stretch will be crucial for the team.
Five wins would mean a third place conference finish along with a favorable seed in the Pac-12 tournament and a chance at playing in the NCAA tournament come March.
“We especially want to win against ‘SC but these last five games are key if we want to make the tournament,” senior guard Rebekah Gardner said. “And wins would give us some momentum going into the Pac-12 tournament.”
Having already faced the two toughest Pac-12 teams on the road this past week in Cal and Stanford, the team believes it can come away with victories against the rest of its schedule if the Bruins play consistently for an entire game.
“We just need to be able to put together 40-minute games. That has been a struggle for us this entire season,” sophomore guard Thea Lemberger said.
“We showed some good sparks (Sunday) of how we should be playing but we couldn’t put it together for the whole game and that is when Stanford exploited us. Against these top teams, we can’t have lapses.”
The first obstacle toward reaching that five-win mark comes in the form of rival USC, who UCLA will face Sunday.
The Women of Troy are coming off a thrilling 76-75 overtime win against Cal. After the Golden Bears hit a three-point buzzer beater to tie the game, USC freshman Ariya Crook took control of the game in extra minutes. Crook dug her team out of a seven-point hole, scoring all 11 points in overtime.
Short-term momentum may be on the side of USC, but the Women of Troy have struggled against conference team in the second half of their season. After starting 5-2 in the Pac-12, USC has lost four of its last six conference games.
The Bruins have taken a very different route to get the same overall results. UCLA started Pac-12 play shaky, standing at 3-4 at the halfway point of the conference season. The Bruins then went on a four-game winning streak and currently sit one game above .500 at 7-6 like the Women of Troy.
“I think we are a different basketball team now,” Close said of the team’s improvement this season. “The final score may not always show that but I see it in the possessions and the way we were handling the ball and attacking the basket.”
USC got the upper hand on UCLA the first time the two teams met this year, winning 47-43 at the John Wooden Center. UCLA struggled to grab rebounds after halftime, giving up 13 offensive boards to USC, a statistic Close believes was the difference in the game.
“The game was lost last time on offensive rebounds so it is important that we make sure to rebound for two halves and that we have a relentlessness about us,” she said. “That is going to be a key to getting the victory at the Galen Center.”