Miss.
Miss.
Miss.
The first few got UCLA women’s basketball coach Kathy
Olivier pacing up and down the sideline.
Miss.
Miss.
Miss.
The next bunch erased a comfortable Bruin lead that got the
clearly partisan crowd on its feet, creating a hostile environment
that seemed to make the rim a little smaller.
Miss.
Miss.
Miss.
UCLA saw its dreams of packing up and traveling to Cleveland,
Ohio, for the Sweet 16 fade away with each clank off the iron and
each unforgiving backboard bounce.
And there were another six missed shots before the Bruins
awkwardly ended their season with a 61-54 loss to Purdue in the
second round of the NCAA Tournament on the Boilermakers’ home
court in Mackey Arena.
“I don’t know what happened,” senior guard
Lisa Willis said.
The answers weren’t easy to place. A team that ranked in
the top 10 nationally in scoring and featured three first-team All
Pac-10 players went 0-for-15 from the field in the final 7:21 of
the game.
No. 5 seed Purdue did not make a field goal in the last three
minutes and won by six.
“A lot of the shots that we usually put in the basket
didn’t fall,” said senior point guard Nikki Blue, who
had 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. “I know I had
a couple of good looks, but nothing fell,” she said.
No. 4 seed UCLA (21-11) played Purdue (26-6) for the final spot
in the Sweet 16, and the game was a battle between the high-geared
West Coast offense and the blue-collared Big Ten defense. The
Bruins had the athleticism and quickness while the Boilermakers
brought the relentless force.
Neither team led by more than six points in an evenly played
matchup that had nine lead changes and seven ties. Both teams tried
to play to their strengths. The Bruins pressured the Boilermakers,
attempting to push the tempo and set a fast-paced transition game
that could take advantage of their speed. Meanwhile, the
Boilermakers were methodical in their half-court offense, looking
to win with dominant play in the post by forwards Erin Lawless and
Aya Traore.
“It was just an aggressive game that turned to
defense,” Olivier said. “They have long, big women who
play a physical brand of Big Ten basketball.”
UCLA, which took a 26-24 lead into halftime, trailed Purdue for
only 22 seconds of the first 17 minutes of play in the second half.
However, sophomore forward Lindsey Pluimers’ layup, which
gave her club a 53-49 cushion with 7:21 left in the half, was the
last time the Bruins would score a basket. The only other point
came from a free throw by Blue.
When the Bruins could have delivered a decisive blow to the
Boilermakers, the cold Indiana air overtook Blue, junior Noelle
Quinn, and senior Lisa Willis. The triumvirate was a combined
16-for-49 from the field, and Quinn scored only nine points even
though she played every second of the game.
Coming out of a timeout and down by just a point with 1:10
remaining, the closest the Bruins came to a basket was a four-foot
finger roll by Willis that came up two feet short.
The miss seemed to rattle Willis, as she approach the nearest
referee while the Boilermakers went on a fast break that put them
up by three. Willis then got another opportunity but missed an
off-balanced 3-pointer that would have tied the game with 52
seconds to play.
“It sucks we didn’t pull it out,” said Willis,
who had 15 points and eight rebounds. “Because we’re in
the tournament, that sucky feeling is amplified.”
Purdue built some momentum in the last few minutes of the
contest as the home crowd of 3,766 cheered even louder. Prior to
the game, Olivier and her players downplayed the significance of
playing an NCAA Tournament game in the opponent’s home arena.
Following the loss, Olivier reiterated that the environment did not
affect UCLA but did make for some questionable officiating.
“I don’t think it affected us or Purdue,”
Olivier said. “I think it affected the three other people out
there on the court,” said Olivier, referring to the
officials.
The Bruins’ senior point guard didn’t blame the loss
on the location of the game but said that she didn’t like
playing a postseason game in a not-so-objective environment.
“I think the crowd played a huge factor,” Blue said.
“I don’t want to take credit away from Purdue, but I
think it’s unfair that teams get to play at home in the NCAA
Tournament. I’d like to see that changed for the
future.”
Olivier didn’t want to speculate as to why her players,
most notably her trio of standout guards, couldn’t make a
shot in the last seven minutes of regulation.
“I though we got some good looks early on, but we
didn’t get the best shots down the stretch, and we
didn’t make our shots,” Olivier said.
Purdue will advance to play No. 1 seed North Carolina (31-1) in
the Cleveland Regional semifinal on Sunday.
UCLA’s season abruptly ends just 50 hours after notching
the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 1999. Although
it is the nature of the postseason, the sudden shift from a
potential Sweet 16 birth to the season’s end in just a matter
of minutes makes the flight back to Westwood a little surreal.
“It’s a weird feeling,” Olivier said.