Bruins prepare for Danish attack
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 18, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 19, 1996
W. HOOPS:
Coming off sloppy loss against Slovakia, UCLA looks to take
better care of ballBy A. CinQue Carter
Daily Bruin Contributor
Coming off of a 85-66 loss to Slovakia on Thursday, UCLA faces
one more exhibition before opening the season Saturday at the
University of San Diego.
Tonight the Bruin women’s basketball team faces Amager Club from
Denmark. In its second-straight international contest, the Bruins
look to improve on a performance in which there were, "too many
not-good shots," and, "too many turnovers," according to head coach
Kathy Olivier.
What Olivier did like in that game was how often the team put
itself in position to score easy baskets. Although many of those
field goals were not converted, Olivier thinks that UCLA should be
a force once the shots start to fall.
With junior Tawana Grimes being the only player returning to the
starting lineup this season, Olivier plans to shuffle her lineup
through the Bruins’ first few games to see which ones have the best
chemistry. On Thursday, junior Jamie Oenning and freshmen Takiyah
Jackson, Maylana Martin and Carly Funicello started alongside
Grimes.
While Martin and Grimes each saw more than 30 minutes and
Jackson saw more than 20, Oenning and Funicello played a total of
21 between them. Freshman Melanie Pearson had 33 minutes in relief
of Oenning while fellow freshman Marie Philman got just about equal
time in relief of Funicello.
Olivier used junior Aisha Veasley at forward when she needed a
spark on defense. Veasley finished with 18 minutes. She also wound
up as the third-leading scorer for the Bruins with 8 points on
4-of-5 shooting.
UCLA’s 24-of-30 showing from the free throw line was definitely
something for the Bruin women to be proud of, even if only for one
night. Last year’s squad shot 59.1 percent compared to Thursday’s
80 percent.
The game versus Denmark will be the second and final warmup for
a UCLA squad that Olivier expects "to get better everyday." With
sophomore sensation point guard Erica Gomez out with a torn
anterior cruciate ligament, Pearson and Oenning look to be the keys
to how much success this team can have.
"We have a lot of talent on this team," sophomore Laura Tomich
said. "We’ve just got to bring it all together by (NCAA) tournament
time."
WYNN RUJIRAVIRIYAPINYO
Maylana Martin shields the ball from a Slovakian player during
last Thursday’s exhibition game at Pauley Pavilion.
