It’s pretty simple at this point. If the UCLA
women’s basketball team plans on fulfilling its preseason
promise to make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament, it’s
going to have to win games like this.
In fact, the Bruins are going to have to win any game, like this
or any other kind, if they want to find themselves playing in
March.
Playing on the road against a conference foe that sits above
them in the standings, the Bruins (10-7, 5-3 Pac-10) travel
downtown to the Sports Arena to take on a surging Trojan team
(12-5, 6-2) with an opportunity to leapfrog as many as three teams
in the Pac-10 standings.
However, a loss could drop UCLA as low as sixth.
The implications of the game and the prospects of the season are
starting to take shape. The game’s significance is not lost
on anyone, but it has more to do with UCLA needing a win right
here, right now. The fact that it’s a game against USC is
secondary.
“I really think we need this one,” coach Kathy
Olivier said. “We are coming down to the home stretch, and we
have put ourselves in a position where we have to play at such a
high level.”
Olivier, referring to her team’s close losses during
non-conference play that now loom large as the Bruins search for
the wins to qualify for a postseason berth, asserts that this
weekend’s game is going to be full of energy and drama.
But not because it’s a UCLA-USC rivalry match. It’s
about survival, not bragging rights.
“We aren’t looking at this game solely as a rivalry
game. You do that when you have nothing to play for and you try to
motivate yourself,” Olivier said.
“We just have to look at the standings and the rest of the
schedule to get fired up. There are bigger things on the
line.”
Such as who is going to be playing in March and who is going to
be staying home. With six Pac-10 teams within two full games of one
another, UCLA travels across town with a pair of difficult home
games against California and Stanford next week.
USC, which received votes this past week in the AP Poll, comes
into the game sporting a four-game winning streak fueled by the
play of junior guard Shay Murphy, the reigning Pac-10 Player of the
Week, who has scored in double-digits in the past 11 games.
The anticipated match-up of Murphy and UCLA senior guard Lisa
Willis, one of the nation’s premier on-ball defenders and who
has been given the job of halting Murphy’s hot streak, could
decide whether USC will be able to open up its halfcourt
offense.
If Willis successfully bottles Murphy, or even just contains
her, the Trojans will look for complimentary play out of their
sophomore guard Camille LeNoir.
“Shay and Camille have continued to improve, and that has
really carried USC and made them such a dangerous team, especially
at home,” Olivier said.
The Trojans are a formidable 7-1 this season at home, with the
lone loss coming to No. 6 Ohio State. Meanwhile, UCLA has managed
only two wins on the road. But this time the rigors of traveling
are eliminated and make this game more of a neutral match.
“Having the week to be in our own beds and not having to
worry about where we are sleeping makes this game different,”
sophomore forward Lindsey Pluimer said. “We’re fresh
and ready to play. No excuses.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge the Bruins face this game is under
the glass. USC leads the Pac-10 in rebounding offense (41.9) and is
tied for first in steals (11.65), an aggressive style of play that
will test the finesse guard play of junior Noelle Quinn, senior
Nikki Blue and Willis.
UCLA’s fate on Saturday doesn’t rest on any one
thing, but the outcome of the game is outlined by an uncompromising
reality.
They aren’t a quintessential “bubble team”
yet, but that moment is rapidly approaching.