The troops from the North proved too much for UCLA’s arsenal this weekend.
After dropping a game against Oregon two days prior, the players in blue found themselves outgunned yet again, surrounded by the overpowering orange and black crowd of Oregon State’s Gill Coliseum on Monday.
The No. 7 Beavers defeated the Bruins 82-64, tacking another loss onto the Bruins, now, on a four-game losing streak – a mirror image of the start of their season.
“They’re a really good team. There’s a reason they’re at the top of our conference and undefeated halfway through for a reason – they’re excellent and they have very few weaknesses,” coach Cori Close said. “They exposed things in our lack of maturity and our youth.”
Both teams grappled for the lead during the first 11 minutes of the game. Until midway through the first half, the Bruins were holding their own against a top-10 team, keeping the score tight and matching the Beavers in rebounds.
However, Oregon State was able to jump to a 20-point lead in the second half – a deficit UCLA was never able to overcome.
UCLA’s aggression brought them into foul trouble in the first period. Redshirt sophomore guard Kari Korver, freshman guard Jordin Canada, redshirt junior forward Kacy Swain and junior guard Nirra Fields each tacked three personals onto their records before halftime.
Korver looked to bad habits as the source of the multitude of fouls. In practice scrimmages, the Bruins would hand-check without fear of fouling out.
“Some of our aggressive fouls, like going in for rebounds – we can live with those,” Korver said. “It’s really hand-checks that put them at the free-point line, and they’re a great free throw shooting team. We need to work on that.”
Canada, who was benched against Oregon State the last time the teams met, tallied 19 points, three rebounds and five assists in her debut performance against the Beavers.
The Bruin freshman outscored Oregon State’s entire roster, including veterans such as guard Jamie Weisner, center Ruth Hamblin and guard Sydney Wiese.
“I thought Canada was a really a great leader,” Close said. “She was really tough to handle … She made great decisions, and she finished really hard shots.”
The Bruins were able to keep up with the Beavers in terms of accuracy from the field, yet Oregon State proved more effective on the glass, reaching for 42 total boards compared to UCLA’s 32, and using the second chances to its advantage in the paint.
Oregon State has held multiple opponents to under 60 total points, including USC, which was only able to muster 35 points against the Beaver’s defense. The Bruins broke the barrier, creating holes in the defense and leaving the game with 64 points after a last-second 3-pointer by sophomore guard Dominique Williams.
“We’re tough to handle in transition, but we have to grow in our execution at the half court,” Close said. “I’m glad we scored over 60, but we have a long way to go before I can be happy with how efficient we are on offense.”
Close said that the team will need to focus on being patient and disciplined against strong defensive teams and more willing to go “deeper into the shot clock”.
Before the Bruins host Colorado on Friday and Utah on Sunday, they said they will head into practice eager to grow in things under their control and ricochet back into Pac-12 contention.
“You have to stay tough against adversity,” Canada said. “We’re going to continue to fight back, practice harder, be more aggressive and be together as a team. If we do those things in practice, they’ll carry over into games.