A seemingly safe first half 11-point lead vaporized Thursday
night for the women’s basketball team, and unfortunately
transformed into a 12-point loss as UCLA fell to Baylor 89-77 at
Pauley Pavilion.
"The first half we made good decisions doing what we needed to
do," said head coach Kathy Olivier. "The second half, they just ran
through it and we didn’t sustain our fire."
Freshman forward Julia Pitts was taken out in the first half and
later diagonsed with a sprained left knee, which certainly didn’t
help the team. The more efficient Lady Bears offense countered the
Bruins’ press with many clean drives to the basket.
"We might have surprised them initially," said senior guard
Michelle Greco. "But in the second half they were just doing too
good of a job of finding that open person."
Baylor sophomore guard Stephanie Blackmon certainly did an
excellent job of making herself available offensively, as she shot
10 for 15 from the field in addition to 13 rebounds.
UCLA freshman guard Nikki Blue again led the Bruins in scoring
with 26 points but could not save her team’s shooting percentage,
which dropped from 51.4 percent in the first half to 39.3 percent
in the second.
The loss of Pitts is especially troubling. The freshman trio of
Pitts, Blue, and Lisa Willis account for almost half of UCLA’s
points this season and the three trail in scoring only behind
Greco.
"(Pitts) was a big part of what we were doing," said Olivier.
"She was playing very good basketball and was a great option on the
inside. (Her injury) doesn’t look good."
The Bruins’ did have some positives to build on before their
next home game Saturday against Cal State Northridge. Junior
forward Jamila Veasley topped the Bruins rebounding with six total
and UCLA garnered 20 points off turnovers compared to Baylor’s
eight. UCLA’s offense looked aggressive from beyond the arc with 25
three-pointers attempted, and six of 12 players making at least
one.
Coach Olivier, however, knows what needs to happen for this team
to turn its current 4-4 record around.
"We need to play 40 minutes of basketball, not 25 or 30. It’s
hard, losing three in a row. Today was a wake-up call."
Hopefully the Bruins will pick up the phone.