Thursday, December 5, 1996
W. BASKETBALL:
Team to test young line-up with a five-game stretchBy A. CinQue
Carter
Daily Bruin Contributor
And the adversity continues for the UCLA women’s basketball
team.
The Bruins (1-1), having already begun the year without their
starting backcourt from last season, suffered another blow
Wednesday morning.
Melanie Pearson, the Bruins’ starting point guard, has developed
mononucleosis and will be out indefinitely.
So with Erica Gomez out for the season with torn ligaments, and
Nickey Hilbert not returning for her senior season, head coach
Kathy Olivier will be forced to go deeper into her bench. For a
team that found its niche last year when Gomez was set as Hilbert’s
counterpart at guard, this is a little unsettling.
"It’s tough for us when uncontrollable events occur," Olivier
said. "We won’t be down about it; we’ll get through it. What this
does create, though, is an opportunity for everyone to step up and
see what we can do."
What the Bruins will take into this stretch of five more
non-conference games is more game experience in the starting
lineup. No longer will four of Pearson’s class  freshmen
 be starting while she is out.
Junior Tawana Grimes, the Bruins’ only returning starter will
move over to point guard, while junior Aisha Veasley, last season’s
most productive reserve, will move from reserve forward to
unfamiliar territory at starting shooting guard. "I really like
Aisha coming off the bench because she provides that spark for us,"
Olivier said. "But we’ll see how things work out."
While the backcourt has suffered blow after blow, UCLA’s front
court will remain the same with freshmen Takiyah Jackson, Maylana
Martin, and Carly Funicello continuing to start.
* * *
The first test for the young and embattled Bruins and their
newest lineup will come at 5:15 p.m. tonight against Loyola
Marymount at Gersten Pavilion. The Lions (0-5) last faced UCLA in
1993, with the Bruins walking away with an 81-47 victory at Pauley
Pavilion.
Though the Lions feel overmatched, they still plan to take
everything in stride and stick to their game plan of preparing for
West Coast Conference play by playing against the best competition
possible.
"The whole purpose (of scheduling UCLA) is to prepare for our
conference," LMU head coach Julie Wilhoit said. "We need to pick
ourselves up mentally. There are a number of items that we have to
get better at. Whether we win or lose, if we take care of those
issues, then we are on the right track. (So) we must execute on
offense and defense."
As the Lions are extremely disadvantaged in height, so is
Baylor. The Bruins face the Lady Bears on Saturday, at Pauley
following the men’s game versus Kansas. UCLA hopes their series
record against the Bears will change to 2-1. In the previous two
meetings, the home team has been the victor. Last season UCLA fell
just short, losing 74-68 at Baylor. While Baylor lacks size, it
compensates with experience. All five starters return from last
season looking to repeat last year’s victory at the Bruins’
expense.
"The next few games are going to have to be a total team
effort," Olivier said. "I think we’re going to go on a roll with
Loyola on the road, and Baylor at home is good because we lost last
year. There’s always that revenge factor."
Following finals week, the Bruins will, in a six-day span, face
St. Mary’s at home, and George Washington and Seton Hall on the
road. Not only were GW and SHU champions of their respective
conferences last year, but the three schools compiled a combined
59-30 record last year, while LMU and Baylor combined for 23 wins
and 32 losses.
While these teams know how to win, UCLA did manage to record a
victory in their only meeting with head coach Terri Rubenstein’s
SMC Gaels. The women’s teams from Westwood have never faced head
coach Joe McKeown’s GW Colonials or head coach Phyllis Mangina’s
SHU Pirates.
"That is a very important stretch for us," Bruin associate coach
Willette White said. "We’ll be concentrating only on basketball at
that point. We go to D.C. (and New Jersey) and play two very good
teams. After that we have a top-15 team in Western Kentucky (in the
Pac-10 Challenge at USC). We need these games to gain some momentum
going into conference play."
"We should go beat both of them (GW and SHU)," Olivier said.
As Western Kentucky, Seton Hall, George Washington and St.
Mary’s all have size, and feel they can compete with UCLA in the
post, New Orleans coach Joey Favaloro concedes that his Privateers
(3-1) are overmatched inside.
"They’re (UCLA) going to go inside," Favaloro said. "We have to
play a full court game because the half court game will kill us. We
have to stretch it the full length of the court. What we will offer
is 40 minutes of hustle; we’re going to press for 40 minutes and
shoot every open shot. That’s the only way."
This series is tied at one, with each team winning on the road.
Favaloro, in his 17th season as head coach, remembers very well
when his team "came in there and beat UCLA in Pauley years
ago."
Favaloro’s team won that game 75-73 in the 1984-85 season. It
just so happens that this game is not at UCLA or Baylor, so the tie
will be broken on neutral ground.
As the Bruins will use this stretch to prepare them for Pac-10
play, the Lady Hilltoppers (2-1) of Western Kentucky are using
their West Coast trip, and their winter break overall to prep
themselves for Sun Belt Conference play. "The Pac-10 Challenge
includes two quality ball programs (UCLA and USC)," head coach Paul
Sanderford said. "We face those two and then we immediately come
home and play Iowa. This will definitely get us ready for
conference. We’re (also) trying to play the best competition we can
to get us ready for March (the NCAA Tournament)."
While Sanderford recognizes the Bruins are "talented and had a
great recruiting class," he also points out that they need this
game as much as his team to prepare them for their season.
"We’re a top-20 team," Sanderford said. "That’s got to help UCLA
because they have to go to (top-ranked) Stanford; they have to go
to Oregon. Those are always challenges. When you face quality
opponents it just makes you better."
As far as conference play goes, the Bruins have had all
off-season to ponder what might have been. With an 8-8 conference
record last year, UCLA traveled to the Washington schools with a
chance to finish third in the Pac-10. They were on a three-game win
streak and were gaining momentum.
The first stop on the trip was at UW in Seattle. What they
experienced there was a 70-48 thumping by the Huskies. In that
contest, the Bruins shot 33.9 percent from the field, 42.9 percent
from the line, and had 33 turnovers against only six assists.
The next stop was Pullman. Fighting for .500, holding an 8-9
Pac-10 mark, the Bruins looked to repeat a victory earlier in the
season over the Cougars. With starters Hilbert and senior forward
Zrinka Kristich held out of the game, the Bruins fought hard but
fell seven points short at 88-81.
Free throw percentage: 46.7 percent. Missed free throws: eight.
Had they made their free throws they would have won the game. So
the team that fought so hard for the opportunity to finish third in
conference play finished tied for sixth.
With conference play opening on Jan. 2 in Pullman, UCLA looks to
turn the tables on Washington State, in which they split last
year’s games.
After that they will go across the state, and face the Huskies
in Seattle on Jan. 4 to try to avenge a season sweep last year.
* * *
While Olivier enters her fourth season at the helm of the Bruin
program, every non-conference foe other than LMU has had the same
coach for at least seven years, and eight of those nine have been
on the job at least 10 years. The Bruins, under Olivier’s tutelage,
have compiled a 6-9 record over the winter break for the last three
seasons.
AARON TAO
Melanie Pearson is out of the line-up indefinitely with
mononucleosis.
While the backcourt has suffered blow after blow, UCLA’s front
court will remain the same …