The last time the UCLA women’s basketball team played Cal,
the Bruin offense was nothing short of offensive.
Limited to a season-low 29 percent shooting, UCLA fell short
against a Golden Bear squad that has struggled just to remain
competitive all season.
But last night, the Bruins (15-9, 10-5 Pac-10) made past
offensive problems a faint memory, defeating Cal in Berkeley,
72-54.
“We’re calling this revenge weekend,” head
coach Kathy Olivier said.
But the win is more than just revenge. This victory moved the
Bruins into a third-place tie with No. 25 Arizona in conference
standings (17-7, 10-5 Pac-10). UCLA is now only one-half game
behind second-place No. 23 Washington (19-6, 11-5 Pac-10), who lost
to Oregon State last night, 100-86.
“Our ultimate goal in Pac-10 is to win three more
games,” senior guard Michelle Greco said. “We’re
looking towards the NCAA tournament and that’s been our focus
for the entire season.”
Last night, the Bruins played almost error-free basketball for
the first half, making only two turnovers before the buzzer. UCLA
finished with 12 turnovers, half of the Bears’ total of
24.
Greco tallied 28 points for the night, 15 of which came in the
decisive first half. But she was not the only Bruin to step up.
Senior guard Natalie Nakase had a season-high nine points and five
assists, and freshman guard Nikki Blue, who sat out most of the
first half due to early foul trouble, added 10.
“When you have strong leadership your teams tend to be
more consistent and better on the road,” Cal head coach Caren
Horstmeyer said.
The closest Cal came to bringing the Bruin bench to the edge of
their seats was two and a half minutes before halftime. With Blue
and Greco both on the sidelines, a 6-0 Cal run left the Bruins
leading by only five points.
“We were trying to stay very focused at the half and make
and eight- or nine-point lead into a 15- or 16-point lead,”
Olivier said.
UCLA did build the difference to as many as 21 points and shot
46 percent from the field, almost double the lowly 29 percent the
team would rather forget.
“We can’t let those things happen,” said
Olivier. “Hopefully we’ll be ready to go against
Stanford.”
The Bruins will have to play much more than just strong
basketball when they face the No. 9 Cardinal (21-3, 13-2 Pac-10) on
Saturday in Palo Alto.
Stanford clinched at least a share of first place in the Pac-10
last night with its 63-55 victory over USC, its 24th straight win
at home.
The last matchup between Stanford and UCLA was decided by only
one basket, when Nicole Powell buried the game-winning jumper with
two seconds left to play.
“Stanford plays extremely well at home,” Olivier
said.
If the Bruins hope to improve their NCAA Tournament resume, they
must be up to the challenge.