The student section was largely barren during women’s basketball’s season-opening exhibition game against Vanguard Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion. Students may have been studying for midterms, nursing Halloween hangovers or merely expecting a blowout, which, in retrospect, was a correct assumption as the UCLA women’s basketball team cruised to a 113-42 victory.
The Bruins pulled out to a 35-13 lead in the first quarter and never let up.
The front court rotation that included sophomore forwards Monique Billings and Lajahna Drummer continuously bothered the Vanguard bigs, while sophomore guard Jordin Canada and senior guard Nirra Fields relentlessly hounded the Lions’ guards, leading to turnovers and fast breaks.
“(We focused on) making sure the ball handler was uncomfortable,” said Canada. “(Freshman guard) Kennedy (Burke) getting deflections … and me running the 50-50 balls down (led to turnovers).”
Canada finished the game with six steals as Vanguard turned the ball over 27 times. However, this game was about offense, as UCLA went into halftime up 65-25, already having scored a game’s worth of points.
Fields, who led the team in scoring last year, continued her offense dominance with 19 first-half points.
“Practice has been extremely hard,” Fields said. “To see us come and really just execute … I’m just really proud of my team.”
The lopsided score did not prevent UCLA from applying pressure the entire game.
“Our team really likes to press,” said coach Cori Close. “To see them really get more and more energy. … You can see it in their eyes – they really like to play that way.”
The 71-point win was the largest in recent history.
“In past exhibition games we’ve really just dinked around and haven’t taken it as seriously as we’ve needed to take it,” said Close. “They want to be great, more than they want to beat the team in front of them. … I really like that mentality.”
Fields and Canada scored 24 and 20 points respectively, with four other Bruins scoring in double digits.
With four starters returning, the team expects to improve on its form from the end of the 2014-2015 season. However, they are trying not to get wrapped up in last year’s NIT championship.
“It’s a new season. We are not really focused on the last six games that we won,” Fields said. “We have a new team. … It’s really just about growth.”
The Bruins will play their next game against a talented St. John’s Red Storm at Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 13.