Breaking old habits did not translate into a win as UCLA women’s basketball could not complete its comeback against the Cal Bears Thursday night at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.
After trailing by 14 points in the first half, UCLA (10-14, Pac-12 6-7) fought back to take a two-point lead with eight minutes left. However, Cal (20-5, 11-2) immediately held the Bruins to a three-and-a-half minute scoreless streak, eventually winning 70-64.
The Bruins fought to within two with 33 seconds to play when junior guard Nirra Fields drove for the tie, but an off-balance shot and missed put back pushed the game out of reach for UCLA.
The aggressive play worked to the Bruins’ advantage, ending a recent trend of losing ground in the second half. The Bruins out-rebounded the Bears, turned the ball over seven fewer times and had nine more steals, but poor accuracy from the field and an abundance of fouls proved to be UCLA’s downfall.
The Bruins only shot 33 percent from the floor and a meager 2-10 from the 3-point line. While UCLA shot better from the free throw line, it gave out 25 fouls with five players each recording four. Despite shooting 56 percent from the line, the Bears made two more free throws than the Bruins.
One reason for the high foul rate was Cal senior forward Reshanda Gray’s dominant performance in the post. Playing without senior guard Brittany Boyd (concussion) by her side, Gray scored 24 points and went to the line 16 times.
Fields led the team with 14 points and senior forward/center Corinne Costa added 10 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting.
UCLA heads across the Bay to face Stanford on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. The last time the two teams met, UCLA gained a commanding lead early, but deteriorated in the second half, eventually losing by nine. Stanford is coming off a shocking loss to Arizona, which has won only two games in Pac-12 play.
Compiled by Conor Cusack, Bruin Sports contributor.