Senior guard/forward Markel Walker curled around a screen, caught the pass just beyond the free throw line and smoothly knocked down the jump shot. Two minutes later, on a nearly identical play, Walker hoisted up a shot that missed everything, sailing wide left.
It was this inconsistency that UCLA women’s basketball worked to overcome on Saturday night in their season-opening win against San Diego State. The Bruins struggled in the first half, but put together a strong second half to win.
As UCLA plays at Oklahoma tonight, they will try to build off their strong second half on Saturday.
“I think it’s great to see and get some glimpses of what we can become,” said coach Cori Close.
After shooting a poor percentage and getting out-rebounded in the first half, the Bruins rectified those problems at halftime and looked much improved in both areas. Much of that was due to the better play of senior forward Alyssia Brewer.
“The second half for me was a complete 180 from the first half. I knew I had to switch gears in the second half to be able to help my team out and that’s what I did,” Brewer said.
But it wasn’t just Brewer who stepped it up in the second half. The Bruins got a huge boost from their bench, a unit that Close thinks will play a big part against Oklahoma and in the season as a whole.
“Our bench play was a really huge thing for us and it needs to be a strong suit,” Close said. “I think our versatility and our depth has to be a huge strength all year long, so obviously I was pleased to have that punch off the bench.”
Despite the second half improvements, UCLA (1-0) is still looking for sharper play against Oklahoma (1-0).
“There’s a lot of things we need to learn and address on offense and there were some ugly pieces,” Close said.
But Close’s main focus in on her team’s defense, which she believes will give them a chance to win any game this season.
“I’ve told them from the beginning, if we defend and rebound, we have time to get our offense to catch up and that has to be it,” Close said.
While the defense played well on Saturday, holding San Diego State to just 28 percent shooting, much of their energy came from their home crowd.
Now UCLA will have to go on the road and see if they can bring the same intensity without their crowd support.
“Being back in our own big home base facility was really exciting, especially running out and seeing the announcements and things like that,” Walker said.
“So I think we fed off of that and that was a huge part of just being at home and we tried to start it off right.”