If a coach needs to find evidence to show players that practicing free throws is important, just dig up the video of the last minute and a half of Monday’s UCLA women’s basketball game.
Amid a furious Pepperdine (1-1) rally to cut a double-digit deficit to as little as two, UCLA junior guard Thea Lemberger marched again and again to the free throw line, hitting 12 straight free throws in the span of 93 seconds to seal the 82-78 win for UCLA (1-1).
“I was just taking them one pair of free throws at a time,” Lemberger said. “We practiced pressure free throws a lot in practice. Coach really harped on us to shoot a good percentage from the line, having a good routine, having confidence in our ourselves, and that’s what I did.”
Unlike Friday’s 77-49 loss to No. 15 Nebraska (2-0), the Bruins led the Waves from start to finish. Lemberger had a team-high 25 points, but it was sixth-year senior forward Atonye Nyingifa and sophomore guard Nirra Fields who did the heavy lifting early on.
Nyingifa dominated in the post, scoring 24 points and grabbing eight rebounds. With all the attention on Nyingifa, Fields took advantage of all the open lanes that opened up, collecting 20 points and 10 rebounds.
While Fields credited the post players in opening up the game for her, Nyingifa said that it really was a team effort.
“It’s a collective of all things, knowing our roles and how to execute,” Nyingifa said. “We were able to get some stops and push in transition, which made our offense just flow a lot better. And then my teammates just found me while I was sprinting down the court.”
Although the Bruins took home their first win of the season, there were still moments in the game when it seemed like things were falling apart, especially in the last few minutes of the first half.
“It’s up to us to try to put together two halves, two plays back-to-back of consistent energy, consistent aggression and consistent focus,” Lemberger said. “After halftime, we came out and as a team decided to bring our energy level up, and now to make that step to have that consistency for 40 minutes is what we need to do.”
Putting together consistent energy for an entire game may be hard for a UCLA team that’s playing short-handed while dealing with injuries, only suiting up six players against Nebraska and seven in the Pepperdine game. Still, players and coaches refuse to use their lack of depth as an excuse.
“I’m feeling great – I feel like a freshman again,” Nyingifa said after playing all 40 minutes against Nebraska and then 32 minutes against Pepperdine.
Coach Cori Close said that her team made strides after losing by 28 points to Nebraska, a game that she felt her team made some mental excuses for, feeling sorry for themselves.
“It’s OK to swish your feet in the ‘pity pond’ but there’s no swimming laps, and I thought we swam some laps,” Close said. “So the big thing in our practice yesterday was all about just focusing. I wanted to see a toughness about us and I think we grew in that, but we still have a long way to go.”