Taking a break from school with a trip to Cancun, Mexico, and a basketball tournament nearly guarantees to be a spectacular time. However, the Bruins’ last day abroad was all that much sweeter after their performance during the days prior.
No. 9 UCLA (5-1) swept both of its games at the Cancun Challenge, against Iowa (5-2) and Toledo (4-1), at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya on Friday and Saturday.
The first game saw the Bruins ride a career day from forward Monique Billings to a 78-65 victory over the Hawkeyes. The junior posted a career-high 27 points on nine of 12 shots, while adding on four rebounds in her 32 minutes of play.
“I got some deep seals and Iowa was really trying to take away our 3s, and our guards did a great job of passing it in and I was able to finish,” Billings said. “I practiced a lot of free throws this week. I struggled last week from the line and just tried to get better at it.”
The Corona, California, native was nine for nine at the charity stripe but has only been a .653 free-throw shooter on the season.
Both squads scored 22 in the first quarter, but UCLA led the way after that.
Billings and junior guard Jordin Canada scored 11 and 9 points, respectively, in the fourth quarter – they were the only two Bruins to score in the last period. Despite this singular, two-pronged approach, UCLA still outscored Iowa 20-14 to close out the game.
The next game, however, would not be so straightforward.
The Bruins would find themselves coasting to a 14 point lead at the half against the Rockets.
But the Midnight Blue and Gold came roaring back, cutting the lead in half by the third and trailing by one with 32 seconds left.
Canada scored 27 points on the night after a relatively subdued performance of 13 points the night prior, and hit the last basket for UCLA with 51 seconds on the game clock and a single tick on the shot clock.
“I was just trying to get a shot off,” Canada said. “I had picked up my dribble and was getting pressured, and I saw that there was three seconds left on the shot clock so I had to find a way. Fortunately, when I spun and took the step, I was wide open and made it.”
Once the lead had shrunk to one, Billings was fouled with two seconds left and hit the second of her two free throws. But with the ball at midcourt and 2.6 seconds left, Toledo was unable to get a shot off before the horn, thus sealing the 75-73 Bruin win.
With the last-second rebound, Billings closed out the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds and notched her fourth double-double of the season.
“I said to our staff in the second half, ‘This is exactly what we need,'” said coach Cori Close. “That’s why you play these good teams. … It exposes things you need to work on. … We will learn from this. I’m thrilled to be able to teach through a win, rather than a loss. But I think this game taught us a lot.”