Trailing by two at halftime, the UCLA women’s basketball team came out of the locker room and decided that the best offense was some good defense.
With an array of floor burns, jump-balls and defensive stops, the Bruins (4-1) picked up the intensity in the second half to hold on for a 69-59 win against Princeton (3-1) on Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.
A sluggish UCLA start in the first 20 minutes gave the Tigers the early momentum. While the Bruins turned the ball over 10 times, the Tigers shot 46 percent from the field to go up by as many as seven points.
“Princeton did a very good job of executing its game plan,” coach Nikki Caldwell said. “They came out and played extremely hard and got after it.”
But a halftime lecture later, the Bruins took control of the game, tallying 29 rebounds and holding the Tigers to just 29 percent shooting.
“I just put on the board two things: playing hard and playing together,” Caldwell said. “And that’s really what it boils down to. When this team decides to play hard and play together, then we’re a much better ball club.”
With the guards combining to go 13-33 from the field, it was the Bruins’ bigs that shouldered much of the load.
Freshman forward Markel Walker led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while senior center Moniquee Alexander came off the bench to post a double-double of her own, collecting 15 points and 11 boards.
“We knew we weren’t shooting extremely well, so we knew we had to get our shots from somewhere else,” Walker said. “If we worked our way in and then came out, we knew that would improve our game and even open up the shooting spots.”
Money from halfcourt
As part of the halftime entertainment, UCLA hosted SuperShot, a contest sponsored by Sport Chalet that gives away various prizes according to the distance from which shots are made within a period of 30 seconds.
On Wednesday night, fourth-year Asian humanities student Carrissa Hsieh stepped up to the challenge and scored the basket of her lifetime, drilling a half-court shot that brought the crowd to its feet.
The reward?
A year’s worth of paid tuition.
“I had no idea, I just threw it up because I knew it was going to be my last shot,” Hsieh said. “I didn’t believe it. I just fell to the ground and saw everybody just standing up.”
Hsieh also won several food prizes for making the three shots that led up to her dramatic basket.