Rebounds out of reach for UCLA w. hoops
Bruin record falls to 4-5 in conference play after weekend loss
to Beavers
By Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
Unable to rebound from Thursday night’s loss to the Ducks, the
UCLA women’s basketball team was swept away in Oregon this
weekend.
In its 82-70 victory over the Bruins in Corvallis on Saturday,
No. 18 Oregon State out-rebounded UCLA by a margin of
two-to-one.
The Bruins rarely got a second look at the basket, grabbing only
eight offensive rebounds while the Beavers snatched 29 defensive
boards. Tanja Kostic proved why she is the Pac-10’s leading
rebounder. Kostic grabbed 15 of Oregon State’s 44 boards, just
seven less than the entire Bruin squad.
The Beavers led, 38-31, at halftime, but it was not until the
second half when they blew the game open with a 22-4 run. This left
the Bruins trailing, 60-44.
UCLA, however, again relied on its tough defense to bring them
back to within shouting distance. Although the Bruins committed 23
turnovers, they were able to force 29. In the second half, Oregon
State (14-4 overall, 6-3 Pac-10) gave up five turnovers in two and
a half minutes to allow UCLA to cut the lead to 73-66 before the
Beavers pulled away for good
Aside from its inability to rebound, UCLA had trouble converting
free throws. The Bruins shot just 51.7 percent from the line,
missing 14 free throws in their 12-point defeat.
UCLA junior Nickey Hilbert connected on five three-pointers on
her way to a game-high 29 points. Playing all 40 minutes of the
game, freshman point guard Erica Gomez had a big night scoring 19
points while dishing out 5 assists. Center Kisa Hughes also notched
double figures with 14 points.
Kostic, the high-scorer for the Beavers, totaled 22 points.
Annette Mollerstrom and Kristina Lelas contributed 18 and 17 points
each.
With the loss to Oregon State, UCLA (9-9 overall) finds itself
with a 4-5 conference record. Exactly halfway through the Pac-10
season, this puts the Bruins in a four-way lock for fifth place in
the conference with Arizona, Oregon and USC. Stanford, meanwhile,
remains atop the conference with a perfect 9-0 record.
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
Junior Nickey Hilbert scored 29 points in UCLA’s 82-70 loss to
OSU.
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