Just like The Who, the Bruin women’s basketball team will try not to get fooled again tonight against Washington (13-7, 6-3 Pac-10) as they open up the second half of Pac-10 play.
UCLA (10-11, 4-5 Pac-10) dropped a close 72-67 decision in Seattle on New Year’s Eve and will look to even the score tonight at Pauley Pavilion.
“We played very well at the beginning of the game,” UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. “We came out strong and had a very good first half. We didn’t finish the first half how we would have liked. We need to come out in the second half ready to go.”
A big part of the Bruins’ game plan will focus on stopping Husky guard Cameo Hicks, who put up 22 points and nine rebounds in their first meeting.
“She’s one of those people that’s going to score,” senior forward Amanda Livingston said. “You’re not going to be able to shut her out. Maybe she has a bad game here or there but she’s a great player. The best we can do is just make sure we know where she is at all times and not give her any easy looks. That’s just all you can do.”
A UCLA win tonight would be significant in that it would lift the Bruins to 5-5 in the Pac-10, and also would give them their second overall win against a team ranked in the top half of the conference. For Olivier, a win tonight would mean progress and would give the squad a shot in the arm heading down the home stretch.
“It would be big for our players,” Olivier said. “We’ve worked hard to clean some things up. Our on-ball defense needs to be better against Washington. They’re great shooters. For us, (a win) would be a huge boost for our confidence. Our plan is to get on a roll in the second half and just get out there and work hard.”
The Bruins will also need to keep the Huskies off the glass, where they dominate, averaging over 17 offensive boards per game to lead the Pac-10. They grabbed 23 offensive boards against UCLA in their first meeting.
On Sunday, the Bruins will finish the weekend double-header against Washington State (5-14, 1-8 Pac-10), a team that UCLA beat 74-71 in Pullman earlier this year.
The Bruins will need to contain the Cougars’ outside shooters, who shot 10-21 from beyond the 3-point arc on the game.
“Against Washington State, they got hot and they started extending their offense,” Olivier said. “They really pushed us out and they had a couple big post players. We can’t allow the 3s. We just have to get up on them and we’ve done a great job of that this year.”
The Bruins haven’t looked ahead to Washington State yet but will make adjustments when the time comes.
“We haven’t really talked about Washington State yet,” Livingston said. “That’s another one of our focuses, just to take it one game at a time. We’re going to have to make sure that we get our hands up more and not give them open looks.”