Football
Ryan Smith, Sports editor
The Pac-12 named redshirt junior running back Joshua Kelley its Offensive Player of the Week on Monday afternoon.
Kelley ran for a season-high 289 yards and reached the end zone twice in UCLA football’s (3-8, 3-5 Pac-12) 34-27 victory over USC (5-6, 4-5) on Saturday. It was also the most rushing yards gained by a running back in the history of the UCLA-USC rivalry.
The UC Davis transfer’s career day also landed him the third-best individual rushing performance in program history. Kelley fell 33 yards short of Maurice Jones-Drew’s 322-yard outing from 2004, and 12 yards shy of current running backs coach DeShaun Foster, who ran for 301 yards in 2001.
Kelley – who recorded just 27 total rushing yards in the Bruins’ first two games – is averaging 145.1 yards per game over his last eight contests and has scored at least one touchdown in the previous seven games. He is also the first UCLA running back to record at least 1,000 rushing yards in a season since Paul Perkins in 2015.
Kelley will have one more opportunity to improve upon his resume when the Bruins host Stanford (6-4, 4-3) at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
Women’s soccer
Gabriel McCarthy, assistant Sports editor
The Bruins signed a number of players for the 2019 season last week.
UCLA women’s soccer announced following National Signing Day that eight players had signed to join the team next season.
Forward Sunshine Fontes, who is from Pearl City, Hawaii, was signed to the roster. Fontes is the all-time leading scorer for the United States U-17 women’s national team, with 24 goals. She was recently called up to compete at the U-17 Women’s World Cup, in which she has scored twice against Cameroon. Fontes was listed as a five-star recruit by Top Drawer Soccer.
Midfielder Mia Fishel’s signing was announced hours after she scored the game-winner against Cameroon for the U.S. U-17 national team. Fishel plays for the San Diego Surf club, and has made appearances for the U-17 national team. Fishel was listed as a four-star recruit by Top Drawer Soccer.
Midfielder/forward Kali Trevithick, also named a four-star recruit by Top Drawer Soccer, played for the San Diego Surf and was named to the U.S. U-19 women’s national team roster before its trip to the Netherlands at the end of October.
Midfielder Brecken Mozingo, who is from Sandy, Utah, was listed as a four-star recruit by Top Drawer Soccer and was a member of Celtic FC. Mozingo was joined by defender Brianne Riley from San Clemente, California, a three-star recruit on Top Drawer Soccer and member of Strikers FC.
Goalkeeper Hannah Mitchell from Asbury, New Jersey, will also join UCLA in 2019, as well as four-star midfielder Jaclyn Gilday from New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and member of the Nicaragua U-20 national team.
The Bruins also signed forward Rachel Lowe from Gordon, Australia. Lowe is a member of the Australia U-20 national team and received her first full national cap for the Australia women’s national team earlier this year.
Women’s basketball
Joy Hong, assistant Sports editor
College Sports Madness named Michaela Onyenwere its women’s basketball National Player of the Week.
The sophomore forward was one rebound shy of logging back-to-back games with double-doubles in UCLA women’s basketball’s (3-1) wins over then-No. 14 Georgia and Seton Hall last week.
Onyenwere played all 40 minutes in the upset over the Bulldogs on Nov. 14, registering 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a career-high 25 points. Last year’s All-American guard Jordin Canada was the only player to play a complete game during the 2017-2018 season.
Against the Pirates on Sunday, Onyenwere notched 15 points and nine rebounds on 7-of-9 from the field – turning in double-digit scoring performances back-to-back for the first time this year.
The forward – who averaged 17.1 minutes last year – is averaging 31.5 minutes of action in the Bruins’ first four games of the season, which is good for third-highest for UCLA.
Onyenwere also ranks second so far this season for the Bruins as a starter in both scoring percentage and points per game at 51.1 percent and 13 points, respectively. The sophomore – who came off the bench last season as a freshman – was named to last year’s Pac-12 All-Freshmen team.
UCLA will travel to the Virgin Islands and take on North Carolina, Kentucky and South Florida at the 2018 Paradise Jam.