Midway through the first half, senior guard Markel Walker tipped a pass, lunged for the loose ball and, in one motion, scooped it up and heaved a lefty pass up court to redshirt senior forward Jasmine Dixon. Dixon then shoveled the ball to junior guard Thea Lemberger, who leaped up, preparing to lay in the breakaway layup. Then, out of nowhere, a USC player sprinted up and swatted the shot away.
After handily defeating USC last Tuesday, UCLA looked as if it would run away with another win, but was caught by surprise by a re-energized and tougher USC team than it had faced earlier in the week. The Bruins saw their 15-point lead dwindle to just one, but ultimately prevailed, outlasting the Trojans to earn a 63-58 victory on senior day.
Playing in its last home game of the season, UCLA honored its seniors with a ceremony before the game and with its play throughout the game.
“I’m really proud that we found a way to win for our seniors,” said coach Cori Close. “Our theme for today was less of me and more for our seniors, and how could we all sacrifice to give them the experience that we would all hope for in their shoes. Bottom line is, we found a way to do that.”
Being the seniors’ last game in Pauley Pavilion in a game against their rivals, a crowd of 8,327 came out and the players’ emotions were running high.
“It was exciting, especially to have a crowd like we did. This was our biggest crowd of the year and I appreciate everybody that was coming out today and it’s just kind of mixed emotions,” said senior forward Alyssia Brewer.
That excitement seemed to fuel the Bruins early, but to their detriment, as their lack of patience hurt them several times, especially against the Trojans’ full-court press.
“I think we rushed,” Close said. “I thought we weren’t calm and playing with teamwork and purpose the way we needed to to get easier opportunities.”
No. 17 UCLA settled down in the second half and pushed its lead to double digits, but with nine minutes to go, the team turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions, once again bothered by USC’s press. In 53 seconds, USC (8-19, 5-11 Pac-12) scored 11 straight points and trimmed the deficit to just four. But the Bruins placed the blame for these turnovers on themselves.
“It was honestly something we were doing to ourselves, passing to the wrong team. So, just pass to a UCLA jersey next time,” Lemberger said.
UCLA (21-6, 12-4) fended off USC’s surge, and Lemberger eventually sealed the win with some clutch free throws in the final minute. While the Bruins certainly weren’t happy about letting the Trojans back into the game, they found some positives in the situation.
“I told them in one of the timeouts, ‘This is so good for us. We should welcome this challenge and as the pressure rises, we have to learn to rise,” Close said.
“So it’s all in how you view it. It’s the lens in which you view that moment. So of course I wish we wouldn’t have lost the lead. At the same time, I love what it forces us to go through.”