Monday, January 27, 1997
W.HOOPS:
Turnovers become UCLA’s Achilles’ heel in loss to TrojansBy
Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For the second time in as many weeks, the UCLA women’s
basketball team let a big lead slip away in a key Pacific 10
conference contest.
Only one week after blowing a 20-point lead at Arizona State,
the Bruins fell to crosstown rival USC, 60-56, losing for the fifth
time in the past six games.
In front of 3,928 at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA (8-8, 2-5 Pac-10)
took an eight-point lead with just over five minutes remaining in
the first half, but was dominated the rest of the way, allowing the
women of Troy (12-4, 6-1) to win their third consecutive game.
After UCLA assumed the biggest lead of the ball game, 28-20, USC
outscored the Bruins 40-28 to clinch the victory, winning for the
10th time in the last 11 games in the series.
Melanie Pearson led the Bruins with 16 points, nine rebounds and
four assists, but it was not enough to offset USC’s starting
forward, Tina Thompson.
Last week’s Pac-10 player of the week scored 14 points to go
along with 15 rebounds.
Kristin Clark added 23 points for USC.
As has been the case all season, turnovers were a key factor for
the Bruins. At halftime, when they possessed a four-point lead,
UCLA had only turned the ball over 10 times.
However, in the final 20 minutes of play, the Bruins committed
19 turnovers, compared to USC’s 13.
UCLA made a spirited comeback after the Trojans had taken a
59-52 lead with two minutes remaining.
The Bruins scored a basket with 1:14 left, then scored again
when Maylana Martin put back a missed shot, cutting USC’s lead to
three.
However, UCLA could get no closer, and the women of Troy
clinched the victory when center Michelle Campbell hit a free throw
to give USC the final four-point margin of victory with eight
seconds left to play.
The Bruins will try to get back into the win column this week
with a home contest against Oregon on Friday and another against
Oregon State on Saturday.