INDIANAPOLIS — With 6:26 left in the second quarter at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball team was in a position it rarely has been in Big Ten play.
Losing.
Coach Cori Close called a timeout, and the top-seeded Bruins scored the next 15 points to go into halftime with a lead. It was the moment that awoke the Bruins during Friday’s 78-60 win over eighth-seeded Washington to advance to the Big Ten tournament semifinals, where they’ll face Ohio State at 11 a.m. PST on Saturday.
“Coaches and players have to take responsibility that here we are in March, and we came out with less than our best focus and effort,” Close said. “That’s something we got to take care of right away.”
UCLA guard Kiki Rice drives under Washington center Yulia Grabovskaia during the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals Friday in Indianapolis.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
Nevertheless, the Bruins won their 23rd straight game, the team unbeaten for more than three months since taking its only loss Nov. 26 against Texas.
UCLA improved to 19-0 in Big Ten action but started slowly, opening with two turnovers and a miss. They missed five consecutive shots during a drought of five-plus minutes in the first quarter. The Bruins’ six points in the quarter were a season low and matched their turnover total.
The Huskies extended their lead to 10 in the second quarter, and then came the timeout. UCLA ran a play to Lauren Betts in the paint and she sparked the next run.
“I knew I wanted to win this game, and I was going to do whatever the team needed,” said Betts, who finished with 26 points on 13-for-20 shooting with eight rebounds. “Today they were playing me with single coverage for most of the game, so that worked in my benefit and I just took advantage of it and was aggressive for the entire game.”
The Huskies were held to two points for the final 6½ minutes of the half, while the Bruins took the lead and grew it.
Washington (21-10, 11-9), which defeated No. 9 seed USC on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinal, struggled to respond to UCLA’s second-half surge and trailed by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter.
Washington went up briefly in the third quarter, powered by guard Avery Howell (18 points), but the Bruins found their rhythm again shortly after. UCLA shot 54% overall from the field.
“We know the little things are going to matter,” UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez (five points) said after the win. “We’ve been working on that.”
UCLA, which boasts the best three-point percentage in the Big Ten, didn’t make any treys in the first half and didn’t knock one down until Kiki Rice’s at the 5:27 mark in the third quarter. Rice finished with 18 points and six assists, joining Betts as a key catalyst for the Bruins.
The Bruins found ways to score but tied their worst three-point shooting performance of the season (one for 10).
“They were the more aggressive team,” Close said. “They played harder than us in the first quarter and put us on our heels. … It wasn’t our best.”
UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker drives under pressure from Washington guard Hannah Stines.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
The Bruins have played just a handful of competitive games in their conference this season, with a 69-66 win over Michigan last month and an 82-75 victory at Ohio State in December their closest contests.
UCLA’s 28.3-point average margin of victory is the fifth-best in the nation, and many of those wins have come against opponents in arguably the deepest conference in the country.
Even in the postseason, the Bruins see staying close for too long as a failure. With only tougher opponents ahead, they’re trying to stay focused on what to fix even in their routs.
“There’s a lot of seniors here who want to go to the next level,” wing Charlisse Leger-Walker (10 points) said. “It can be easy to slip into [thinking ahead]. But I think we’ve done a good job staying present.”
Eventually on Friday, UCLA ran it up again. It took longer to get there than the Bruins would prefer during the rest of March.
But for a team that has faced little on-court adversity all season, the Bruins are finding the flaws where they can. On Friday, there were at least a few.
“I don’t really believe in survive and advance if you’re going to try to go win this thing,” Close said. “It has to be thrive and advance, and it has to be we’re playing our best basketball. We attack. … We have to get back to that, really quick.”
