When the regular season ends and all that is left is a single-elimination tournament, each matchup suddenly becomes a team’s most important game of the year.
This is the case for the women’s basketball team, who will play Washington State tonight in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament in San Jose. The Bruins (13-17, 7-11 Pac-10) won the conference tournament last season and will need to repeat as conference tournament champs in order to grab an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The Bruins are the seventh seed overall this weekend and will face off against the 10th-seeded Cougars (5-23, 1-17), who UCLA has beaten twice so far this season. They are the only team the Bruins have beaten more than once all year, but both matchups were close decisions.
In December, the Bruins pulled out a 74-71 victory in Pullman, Wash., after senior Noelle Quinn hit two free throws then blocked a Cougar’s desperation 3 that would have tied the game as time expired. Quinn was one rebound shy of a triple-double in that game.
In late January, UCLA held off a furious Washington State comeback at Pauley Pavilion in the final minutes to come out with a 73-70 win.
The Bruins are 36-6 against Washington State all time and have won the past 13 meetings.
If UCLA is able to beat the Cougars for the third time this season, the Bruins will have to face No. 2 seed Arizona State, which is ranked No. 9 nationally. The Bruins have not beaten the Sun Devils this season, losing by margins of 40 and 11.
QUINN EARNS HONORS: Senior guard Quinn was named to the All-Pac-10 First Team for the third time, one of only four conference players this season who have racked up so many honors. Quinn is the only player in UCLA history to record career totals of at least 1,700 points, 700 rebounds and 400 assists. If she records 10 more points and 10 more rebounds she will become only the second player in Pac-10 history to reach 1,800 points, 800 rebounds and 400 assists.
This season she has racked up seven double-doubles and has put up 20 or more points nine times. The only season she has not won First Team All-Conference honors was in 2005 when she was an honorable mention despite missing the final 12 games of the season with a knee injury. This season she carried a huge load for the Bruins, who relied on her for points, rebounds, assists and senior leadership on and off the court.
Quinn currently ranks fifth in the conference in scoring with 17 per game, 10th in rebounding with 6.9 per game, and second in assists with 5.73 per game.
PLUIMER ALSO HONORED: Junior forward Lindsey Pluimer also was honored by the Pac-10 coaches, earning an honorable mention for the first time. This season she has averaged 15.6 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game and has started every game in her UCLA career. Her 1,091 points rank 21st on UCLA’s all-time list, and she set career-highs in blocked shots (24) and steals (32) this season.