Lose one, win one, lose another and win another. Rinse and repeat.
Such is the life of UCLA women’s basketball. It has been alternating wins and losses throughout the season except for a short period of four games.
Even then, the Bruins dropped two games before winning two straight to even up the record. Those games represented both the longest losing streak and winning streak of the season.
With such consistent inconsistency, UCLA hasn’t been able to surpass a .500 record this season. Currently sitting at 8-9, the Bruins have had the same number in the win and loss columns a total of seven times.
For freshman guard Dominique Williams, the team’s record isn’t the only indicator of how well the Bruins are doing.
“I think we can focus on controllables like having good practices, taking the time to put in extra work,” Williams said. “I think that if we do those things, the record will handle itself.”
But like the wild coyote that couldn’t catch the roadrunner, each and every time UCLA had a chance to grab that winning record, it slipped away from them, sometimes at the very last second.
With such potentially demoralizing losses, junior guard Madeline Brooks isn’t worried about the psyche of her teammates.
“My team is mentally strong; when we lose, we learn from it, and we move on from it,” Brooks said. “And I guarantee that we’ll get them next time.”
The first chance the Bruins will have at redeeming their two-point losses comes on Feb. 8 at USC. Between now and then, six games stand in the way.
If the pattern holds, that will be six more games of highs and lows. Six more games that could add onto the season coach Cori Close had described as a series of peaks and valleys.
In this blue and gold mountain range, Close said the highest peak came when UCLA upset then-No. 10 Oklahoma on Nov. 24. But, true to form, the lowest valley came the next weekend after losing two games of a three-game tournament in Florida.
However, it’s more than likely that at some point, the streak will be broken, and Close thinks it’ll be for the better.
“I think there’s been several peaks and valleys,” Close said. “But I think the peaks will get a little higher and the valleys won’t get as low.”
Close feels that her team has been able to rebound quite well from the disappointing showing in Florida, especially after beating Minnesota three weeks afterward.
And now that UCLA is in the middle of Pac-12 conference play, each week comes with a new challenge. The Pac-12 is currently one of the top RPI conferences in the nation, which means the Bruins will have to be ready every game to compete with some of the best teams in the country.
“I think it’s so fun, I don’t think we could be in a better position,” Close said. “If you want to be the best, you got to play against the best and measure yourself against that every night.”