Tuesday, February 18, 1997
W. HOOPS:
Blowout win vs. Arizona St. redeems Friday’s loss to ArizonaBy
A. CinQue Carter
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s basketball team used a second-half run that was
just like taking candy from a baby to defeat the Arizona State Sun
Devils on Sunday afternoon.
The Bruins bounced back from a 90-78 loss suffered in the hands
of Arizona (19-4, 9-3) on Friday night. With a turnover-plagued
Arizona game fresh in their minds, UCLA still managed to defeat the
Sun Devils, 91-61.
The Bruins, who shot 67.3 percent in the game, outscored ASU
(7-15, 1-11) 62-29 in the second half to overcome a three-point
halftime deficit. The Bruins’ 62 second-half points were a season
high and UCLA’s 91 total points were also a season high.
"We played basketball with a lot of emotion and desire in the
second half," UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said. "It was nice to
see the bench contribute. Marie (Philman) can play."
Olivier winked and then added, "We didn’t get so many silly
fouls and got better defensive positioning in the second half."
Following one of the best games of her career, junior Tawana
Grimes came back with another stellar performance on Sunday.
Grimes (who scored a career-high 22 points, dished out five
assists, stole the ball twice and had only one turnover against
Arizona), had six points, seven assists and five rebounds to spark
the Bruins to their second-half comeback.
Her junior counterpart, Aisha Veasley, had six of her 10 points
during a decisive 19-0 second-half run that put the Bruins up to
stay, 62-41. Freshman Marie Philman, who finished with 12 points
and three steals, had seven points during that run.
"We played well," Philman said. "I looked to attack the basket
more because my shot wasn’t falling."
Freshman Melanie Pearson has been on fire since being reinserted
into the starting lineup.
Pearson had 20 points against Arizona but had eight turnovers.
Against Arizona State was a calmer, more relaxed Pearson with eight
points and only two turnovers.
"I just need to know when to push it up and when to be more
patient on offense," Pearson said. "We came out slow (in the first
half). In the second half we started playing tougher on defense.
That made the game."
The Bruins forced 18 second-half turnovers while coughing it up
only seven times themselves. Freshman Maylana Martin, who had game
highs in points (17) and turnovers (8), had a game-high in steals
as well. In fact, six of those steals came in a second half in
which UCLA had 12 of their 15 steals.
Freshman Carly Funicello, who scored only one point and made
only one rebound against Arizona, came out on a tear, scoring six
of the first eight points of the game. Funicello would finish the
game with 15 points, four rebounds and two steals.
Freshman Janae Hubbard, who had a couple of key blocks during
the run that were missed by the statistician, averaged six points
and seven rebounds in 16 minutes over the weekend.
JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
UCLA’s Aisha Veasley drives the lane against Arizona State.