Down by three with the game clock approaching zero, the Bruins gave the ball to their best 3-point shooter.
But senior guard Japreece Dean couldn’t sink the shot this time.
“They knew what play we were going to and they overplayed it,” said senior guard Kennedy Burke. “But (Dean) has practiced that shot a lot, and it just didn’t go in. Overall it was a good fight for us, but we just came up short.”
UCLA women’s basketball (17-11, 10-6 Pac 12) fell to No. 12 Oregon State (23-5, 13-3) 75-72 on Sunday afternoon, remaining winless in Corvallis since 2013.
The Bruins were down by as many as seven points in the final quarter, facing a 64-57 deficit. UCLA held Oregon State scoreless for two minutes and strung together a 6-0 run to tie the game at 68 with 2 minutes, 57 seconds left, but it was not enough to secure the comeback.
“It’s obviously really disappointing to lose,” said coach Cori Close. “We were right there and we had opportunities. … We got really good shots but we just didn’t make some of them.”
The Bruins controlled much of the first quarter, earning 10 more possessions than the Beavers – despite allowing Oregon State to shoot 50 percent from the field.
The Bruins held a 20-13 lead going into the second, but the Beavers outscored UCLA 26-15 in the period and ended the half shooting over 50 percent from the field. UCLA was down 39-35 going into halftime.
“They caught us falling asleep sometimes,” Burke said. “They were just able to get those easy shots and kick out to shooters to get the best shot they could get and that’s what made them come back.”
The Bruins battled back the third quarter, trading consecutive points with the Beavers. UCLA closed the deficit to tie the game at 54 going into the final period.
Close said UCLA focused on making defensive adjustments in the fourth quarter to limit Oregon State’s scoring.
“We told (the team) that we needed to make (Oregon State) a little more uncomfortable on the defensive end,” Close said. “They were trying to get (Oregon State guard Katie) McWilliams at the post versus (redshirt freshman guard Lindsey) Corsaro or against Dean and we needed to make those passes difficult.”
But the Bruins allowed the Beavers to go on a 7-0 run early in the fourth, and were not able to regain the lead for the remainder of the contest. UCLA entered the game on a five-game road winning streak, with their last loss coming against then-No. 6 Stanford on Jan. 6.
Despite the loss, redshirt senior forward Lajahna Drummer said these past two games against the Oregon teams have shown that the Bruins are ready for the Pac-12 tournament.
“We just know that if we give it our all and do what we know how to do best, then we will be in a great position,” Drummer said.