Women’s basketball edges out a second straight win over USC
Sophomore guard Kennedy Burke tied her career-high mark with 23 points in 34 minutes of play during UCLA’s 71-67 victory over crosstown rival USC. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Ryan Cheong
Jan. 22, 2017 11:46 p.m.
The No. 13 UCLA Bruins (15-4, 6-2 Pac-12) had plenty of smiles to go around the past two weeks, and a return to Westwood for Sunday’s second consecutive matchup against crosstown rival USC (10-9, 1-7) ended in a 71-67 win giving the Bruins even more to smile about. The victory extends the Bruins’ win streak to four and continues their perfect home record to 10-0 on the season.
Both teams stepped onto the court exhibiting just the amount of energy one would expect in a rivalry game, hustling for loose balls and fighting in the paint. That’s exactly what it came down to – passion and grit.
“It was really the passion plays,” junior guard Jordin Canada said. “(Junior forward Monique Billings and senior guard Kari Korver) coming up with those tip plays at the end, I think that’s what helped us. Just playing with a lot of passion.”
Knotted up at 62 apiece with about 5:34 left in the game, UCLA looked to its hustle in order to pull out the victory when its shots were not dropping. Following a handful of loose balls, the Bruins came out of a timeout with a noticeably more determined mindset, diving for the ball and securing several key possessions for their team down the stretch.
Sophomore guard Kennedy Burke dominated down the stretch for the Bruins, pulling down offensive boards and recording putbacks for a career night. Burke strung together six of her team’s nine points during the game’s final deciding minutes.
Burke finished with 23 points, tying her career best, and nine rebounds – six of which were on the offensive glass.
“Almost every week we have commitment cards and this week, my focus was offensive rebounding and being confident with the ball. I think as far as offensive rebounding, I did a good job. But also, my teammates give me confidence to do that,” Burke said.
The Bruins opened the first quarter with high energy, employing a speedy four-guard lineup. Canada’s three first-quarter steals enabled her to run out in the open court and ignite the offense, either finishing around the rim or lighting it up in the assist category.
Six of the Bruins’ eight first-quarter field goals came off assists as they combined their offense with suffocating defense that resulted in seven steals, fueling their 6-0 run to close the first quarter up 21-16.
“As good of a scoring team as we can be at times, we don’t want to build our program on that,” coach Cori Close said. “Because if you have a tough night shooting, you don’t have anything to fall back on. And I think they believe it, but nights like this really prove it.”
UCLA carried over much of that energy in the second quarter. Even when the Bruins faced adversity against their opponents’ two-three zone, they could count on their high energy to find more looks. The Bruins pulled down eight offensive boards in the first half as part of their 20 points in the paint.
USC fought back with its showing beyond the arc, where it shot 8-of-10 in the first half. Guard Courtney Jaco hit her first 3-pointers from the corner against UCLA’s two-three zone before coming back down for back-to-back connections from downtown as part of a 10-0 run. The Trojans then closed the first half off a four-point play from Jaco and 16-3 run to give them a 38-36 halftime lead.
Third-quarter play included the emergence of USC forward Kristen Simon, who did not play in the teams’ previous matchup. Simon, the Trojans’ leading rebounder and scorer, caused problems for UCLA, tapping the ball out and allowing her team more possessions. USC tallied 10 offensive boards in the second half, in large part because of Simon, after only collecting four through the first two quarters.
Simon also netted 16 points, establishing her presence on the block despite UCLA’s double-team efforts. Together, combined with Jaco’s team-high 18 points and guard Aliyah Mazyck’s 14 points, the trio was able to give the Bruins a tough battle before ultimately conceding to the home team’s revamped energy during clutch-time.
“We took a step in the right direction,” USC coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said. “It was also great to have (Simon) back. She had a huge impact this game. We wanted to be dialed in defensively with the different movements we were in. And I think we did a better job contesting shots and making UCLA run their offense a little bit further from the basket.”
Five Bruins played 29 minutes or more, with Canada, who finished with 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals, playing a full 40 minutes. Still, the exhaustive minutes did not stop the team from working hard to earn a 33-8 free-throw attempt advantage. UCLA’s hustle was also instrumental in its 19-9 margin in turnovers and 14 steals.
“Sometimes as a coach, you’re always hoping that they understand and they buy in, but sometimes you need a game like this for those messages to go from the head to the heart,” Close said. “I’m proud of the character. I’m proud of the grit. And I’m proud of the foundation that they’ve been willing to build the program on.”
The win signifies UCLA’s 23rd straight win at home, good for the third-longest active home win streak in the nation behind Connecticut and Baylor. Meanwhile, USC suffered its seventh consecutive loss.
