Perhaps at the end of the season, the women’s basketball team will be able to kick back and reflect proudly on its win over No. 11 Oregon State on Monday. But for now, with a heated rematch against USC coming up on Sunday, No. 15 UCLA has turned its attention forward, following up the impressive upset with a week of grueling practice.
“I think the coaches don’t want us to get comfortable, and they want us to keep getting better every day and just (keep) moving forward, so it was a tough (practice),” said sophomore forward Monique Billings after Wednesday’s session.
The Trojans and Bruins last battled on Dec. 30 in Pauley Pavilion, and, despite edging their opponents 78-73, the Bruins were not fully content with the result.
“(USC) won the toughness battle here in our gym, and to me, that hurts my pride,” said coach Cori Close.
The Trojans won the rebounding battle 50-36 in that game, a surprising feat considering the Bruins have out-rebounded their opponents by an average of 8.4 boards a game this season.
“They really punched us in the mouth. They had 19 offensive rebounds in the first half, 24 for the game,” Close said. “It’s going to be about, ‘Can we execute our game plan better and can we match and exceed USC’s toughness?’ They do a good job. They’re a good basketball playing team, they’re very athletic (and) they’re relentless.”
The Bruins were again out-rebounded on Monday by Oregon State, though they were able to contain the Beavers’ 6-foot-6 center Ruth Hamblin far better than they did star USC forward Temi Fagbenle. The team seems aware that another poor effort on the glass could tilt the game in the Trojans’ favor.
“We definitely are focused on our offensive and defensive rebounds and boxing out, crashing hard and just keeping them off the boards,” Billings said.
In working up the energy to win on the glass, the Bruins should benefit from the six-day layoff, which comes on the heels of a difficult preseason stretch that included four games in eight days last week.
“It’s just that time of the year, you know,” Billings said. “We’ve been playing for a while now, had a lot of practices and a lot of games, so our bodies are going to be tired, but that’s just something that we’re going to get used to.”
The Bruins head into Sunday’s game riding a four-game winning streak – the last three against teams that entered with a combined record of 33-2. After an impressive win against Oregon on Monday, USC will look to redeem themselves after last week’s loss in Pauley Pavilion.
“We believe that UCLA is in the upper echelon (of the conference), so we’re very satisfied right now, not with losing, but with our effort,” said USC coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke after the rivals’ last meeting. “But we want to go back to the drawing board because we don’t want to ever be content with losing. We want to make the necessary adjustments so when we’re faced with the same battle we get better, and we don’t make the same mistakes twice.”