By Adam Titcher
Daily Bruin Contributor
With its positive attitude all year, the UCLA women’s
basketball team unfortunately fell victim to many losses and
trouble. After starting 3-1 last November, the Bruins finished the
season 9-20 and 4-14 in the Pac-10.
Yet, this season was not as bad as it appears on paper.
In fact, considering the loss of two Bruin starters, including
junior forward Kristee Porter to professional volleyball, and
senior star Michelle Greco to the residual of a series of
concussions, the outcome of the season was good.
Despite losing streaks of five and seven games, highlights stand
out: This year junior guard Natalie Nakase received an All-Pac-10
honorable mention. Despite her height disadvantage to most Pac-10
guards, she was second in the conference in assists per game and
sixth in steals.
“There have been some bright spots for us this season, but
it still just sits in the back of my head that we lost two of our
starters,” Nakase said.
But with Greco and Porter lost, a myriad of players had the
opportunity to put up career numbers, as seen with freshman center
Sissy Pickett, sophomore guard Gennifer Arranaga, and senior
forward Shalada “She-She” Allen. The year was seen as a
success for the team, even though head coach Kathy Olivier was the
true victim of the season.
“The frustration kicked when Michelle left, and the team
could definitely read my body language,” she said. “The
team wanted to help me out, but I just could not accept the fact
that Michelle was out.”
Olivier was down, but she made the best of an undesirable
situation. She asked all her players to pick up the load. The
response was great, in her opinion. The only problem was that UCLA
played in the Pac-10.
It may not be the most competitive conference, but there are
seven teams that are potentially NIT and NCAA Tournament-bound.
Without superstars, Olivier lost games, but not spirit.
“Regardless of our losses, the reality is that all my
players had good attitudes, and that never happens with a
team,” she said. “We decided to focus on smaller goals,
of being better without Greco and Porter ““ we made each game
a rebound competition, or a free-throw contest.”
The team accepted, and succeeded. As seen with a 70-57 Arizona
State loss at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins out-rebounded the Sun
Devils, had more steals than them, and even had less turnovers. But
still Olivier seemed absent in all this. She was with her team
physically, but mentally isolated. Olivier needed to figure out how
to overcome the frustration, so she sought her family.
“My balance was not there, and in searching for a better
situation, I spent more time at the mall maybe, but in doing so
became a better mom,” she said. ” And I still get a lot
of support from the administration, even when we let people down.
We give everyone our all.”
Olivier is over the frustration. With a newly experienced team,
and a top recruiting class, all for the 2002-03 season, she smells
victory.
While Arizona State won its second straight Pac-10 title this
year, the Bruins feel they will be at the top soon but will have to
continue working hard.
“We just want to do what we have to do, and every team is
good, so we will approach each game as if it is our last,”
Arranaga said.