Women’s basketball opens strong with win against St. John’s
Sophomore guard Jordin Canada led the Bruins with 23 points against the St. John’s Red Storm. This was a career high for Canada.(Keila Mayberry/Daily Bruin staff)
By Logan Patton
Nov. 16, 2015 9:48 a.m.
Coach Cori Close was not happy with the opening three minutes of the women’s basketball game against St. John’s.
The Bruins missed five shots, two turnovers and two fouls.
However, sophomore guard Jordin Canada’s first jumper of the game for the Bruins (1-0), at 7:05, set the tone for the game that would end in a 73-58 win against the St. John’s Red Storm (0-1). This opening win marked an immediate turnaround from last season’s 0-4 start.
UCLA was able to keep the momentum going on defense with a block from sophomore forward Monique Billings on the Red Storm’s guard Aaliyah Lewis.
Billings said the team is a lot more mature, and that it understands the season grind better this year.
“I would say the journey is definitely something that we’ve all grown in, we’re all a lot stronger, a lot older, we know the game a lot better,” Billings said.
Freshman guard Kennedy Burke’s opening 3-pointer in the beginning of the second period started a 12-0 run, which lasted three minutes and four seconds, giving the Bruins a 27-12 lead over the Red Storm. In the third period, UCLA would continue to outscore St. John’s, doubling its score in the quarter.
Much of the the team’s offensive production came from Canada, who went 10-19 and had 23 points for the game, a second career high for the sophomore.
“Being a point guard you have to be more vocal and just put my team in the position to win,” Canada said. “I think that leading by example (during the offseason) and then coming back here doing the exact same thing helped.”
The Bruins were also able to out-rebound the Red Storm 50-32, 26 defensive, 24 offensive. Billings led the team with a career high of 14 rebounds.
“I would say I know my role (on the team),” Billings said. “I’m not a 3-point shooter yet, but I just know my role so I just try to play and do what I know how to do best.”
Despite the large blowout however, coach Cori Close was still critical of the team’s offense.
“I do not think we played very well offensively,” Close said. “But when you can hold it down and even increase your lead because you’re defending and rebounding that gives me a lot of encouragement for when we start picking on the offensive end.”
