The Bruins faced the Highlanders in the second half of Thursday’s matinee, resulting in a near-blown victory.
UCLA Women’s Basketball (2-0) overcame a slow start to beat UC Riverside (0-2) by a score of 64-43 at Pauley Pavilion. With this win, the Bruins have won her 18th straight non-conference home game dating back to 2018, winning 34 of her 36 recent games.
UCLA were undefeated in the final 34 minutes, but it took them some time to break out on the attacking side of the floor.
After hitting two of their first three shots, the Bruins fell into a cold streak that lasted most of the first half. UCLA could only hold on to the lead due to his 16-minute stretch between the first and second quarters where he scored 4/20 and his ability to reach the line.
The Bruins fell 5-4 holes midway through the first quarter but went 14-2. Eight of UCLA’s points during that stretch came from free throws, with forward Emily Bessoir, guard Londyn Jones and guard Kiki Rice all drawing fouls. Rice had two more chances to sink him in the first quarter, but missed both tries on the first trip of the night.
UC Riverside then fought back with an 11-for-4 run to cut the deficit to four. Forward Gabriela Jauquez ended the run with two more free throws in the final minute before Rice scored the final block and a breakaway by guard Charisma Osborne at the halftime buzzer. It led to a layup.
The Bruins were leading by a 26-18 break, but were 0-for-5 from 3-point range and had already turned the ball over a dozen times.
But those sales slowed in the third quarter and UCLA started to surge.
The Bruins only flipped the ball twice in the third frame, thus finding their offense a foothold. After scoring 26 points in his first two quarters combined, UCLA dropped his 25 points in the third quarter alone.
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A good number of them still came from the charity stripes, but shooting improved as well. Did.
UCLA started the second half with a 14-3 run and scored 22-12 from the field just after a 20-4 stretch. UC Irvine tried to stay there in the 3rd quarter with a trio of 3 and a long range 2 but still went 22 on 4 down.
Jaquez dug a corner 3 early in the fourth quarter to keep the Bruins ahead by more than 20 points, extending the lead to 23 with 7:01 remaining. However, the Highlanders continued to bombard from deep with a quick 8-0 run to tighten up the stretch.
Guard Gina Conti, who missed Monday’s opener and the entire 2021-2022 season due to injury, hit two free throws to prematurely halt her comeback. These were her first points as a Bruin and her first points at the college level since she transferred from Forest in the Spring of 2021 Wake.
Conti scored his first field goal since his immediate return, receiving a one-handed bounce pass from Rice before converting it on a fast-breaking layup.
After all 10 UCLA players who checked in on Monday scored points, 10 of 11 scored on Thursday. Only forward Lina Sontag didn’t, but she had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 stolen base in 10 minutes of action.
Bessoir led the way with 16 points, while Osborne was the only bruin to hit double figures with a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds. Jaquez had nine points and six rebounds, while Rice had five points and five assists.
UCLA wraps up its three-game season-opening homestand with Troy on Sunday. The non-conference contest, which starts at 2:00 pm, will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
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