The women’s basketball team, on the course of righting its ship, has caught wind in the right direction and is on the brink of success.
UCLA (18-18, 8-10 Pac-12) will face West Virginia (23-14, 7-11 Big 12) on Saturday at 3 p.m. EST in Charlestown, W.Va., for the Women’s National Invitation Tourament championship game.
Although the title game is at a neutral site, the arena is likely to resemble a West Virginia home crowd as it is just hours away from its campus. Yet, the Bruins’ success at Michigan in the semifinal in what coach Cori Close described as a “great playoff atmosphere” shows they are no less capable on the road.
During the regular season, UCLA’s longest win streak was three games. Instead, a season bogged down by inconsistency, weakness under pressure and a lack of cohesion between new teammates has been revived by a five-game win streak.
Close said her team is playing its best basketball of the season which freshman guard Jordin Canada attributes to better team chemistry.
“Playing more games, we’ve gotten to know each other really well,” Canada said.
The Pac-12 Freshman of the Year said that the Bruins are learning each other’s strengths and are tailoring their decisions to them. Instead of having to stop the ball to direct traffic, Canada said she can anticipate her teammates’ movements and hit them in stride.
While this is a new experience for the team, its plan established in the beginning of the season will not change.
“I haven’t had a chance to watch West Virginia on film, but our approach is the same as it has been all season,” Close said.
Rebounding and defensive consistency are the backbone for UCLA no matter who it faces.
“The whole focus of the WNIT has been trying to out rebound our opponents by 12 … and to get 65 passion plays,” said redshirt sophomore Kari Korver.
UCLA will encounter a strong rebounding WVU team, which is averaging seven more boards per game than the Bruins in the tournament.
“We have good size, lots of strength on our team, so (rebounding) is just one of the main things we have to keep doing every single time we play,” Canada said.
Canada said that the key to staying locked in and competing against the Mountaineers is maintaining their intensity and carrying momentum over from one game to the next.
“We’re just going to keep feeding off the energy that we had (against Michigan),” Canada said.