Saturday was not a great day for Bruin athletes ““
women’s basketball included.
However, a new day provides new opportunities and the Bruins
countered Saturday’s loss with a Sunday win.
The Bruins traveled to Hawai’i for the Waikiki Beach
Resort Classic hosted by the University of Hawai’i to open
their regular season and fell to the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday,
70-66. On Sunday, the Bruins defeated Sacramento State, 106-43.
Saturday’s game found the Bruins (1-1) scoring solidly,
but a plethora of personal fouls benched freshmen forward Julia
Pitts, freshman guard Nikki Blue, and junior guard Jamila Veasley
during the second half, giving Hawai’i the opportunity to
build a lead the Bruins couldn’t come back from.
“We took care of the ball, and were defensively
active,” head coach Kathy Olivier said. “We were very
aggressive, but we need to make sure we don’t get overly
excited and foul. We gave them too many chances to come to the free
throw line.”
UCLA was ahead 31-30 at the half but Hawai’i managed to
build a 10-point lead with less than two minutes left to put the
Rainbow Wahine ahead 65-55. Although the Bruins scored an
additional eight points in the last minute of the match,
Hawai’i’s lead was just too large to overcome.
“We should have won this,” senior guard Michelle
Greco said following the loss. “We missed shots we normally
would have made. The foul trouble killed us.”
Greco led the Bruins in scoring with 20 points and freshman Lisa
Willis added 18 points including the Bruins’ three
three-pointers.
“Lisa Willis did a great, great job with her three
pointers,” Olivier said. “Greco did a good job, but she
definitely doesn’t have her rhythm yet.”
Saturday’s game was her third appearance since returning
from the concussions that sidelined her last season, but she
reported a “full recovery.”
“We need to work on our execution,” Greco said.
“We need to improve our rebounding and crash the boards. And
keep off the foul line ““ I’ve seen better refereeing in
my career but you can’t blame a game on the refs.”
Hawai’i had 15 personal fouls to UCLA’s 29, and a 52
percent field goal percentage over UCLA’s 38 percent ““
just enough to squeak by with the win.
Sunday’s match against Sacramento State was a taste of
revenge for the Bruins. Freshman guard Nikki Blue was on fire with
24 points and was one assist short of a triple-double.
“Nikki Blue had an amazing day,” Olivier said.
“I thought the upper classwomen set the tone and the young
ones followed and never looked back.”
The team certainly did not even glance back, as Greco, Willis,
and Pitts led the Bruins in scoring with 19, 14, and 12 points
respectively.
“Today we took care of the basketball, upped the tempo,
and the charged defense,” Olivier added. “We had a lot
positive plays today.”
The Bruin will play another weekend tournament Nov. 30 at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas.