Women’s basketball’s performance due to dominant offense
Junior forward Monique Billings has notched 12 double-doubles this season as well as dropping a career-high 30 points against Oregon. On the year, Billings is averaging 18.2 points and 11 rebounds per game. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Ryan Smith
Jan. 25, 2017 12:15 a.m.
UCLA women’s basketball is two weeks removed from its tough weekend in Washington, where they fell to unranked Washington State.
However, since returning home, the No. 13 Bruins (15-4, 6-2 Pac-12) are 4-0 with wins over No. 11 Oregon State and back-to-back victories against cross-town rival USC.
Over the course of the recent hot streak, sophomore guard Kennedy Burke and junior forward Monique Billings have stepped up on the offensive end, specifically their scoring and rebounding.
Burke averaged 16 points and six rebounds per game in back-to-back wins against USC. She attributed her recent success to accepting coaches’ and teammates’ feedback in practice.
“Usually I try to push them away, but I think I’ve done a better job of just receiving feedback and staying positive,” Burke said.
After she tied a career-high 23 points and nine rebounds on Sunday, she offered insight on her recent focuses in practice.
“Every week we have commitment cards and this week my focus was offensive rebounding and being confident with the ball,” Burke said. “As far as offensive rebounding, I did a good job, but it is also because my teammates give me confidence.”
One of those teammates – Billings – has become a walking double-double, collecting 12 in just 19 games this season.
Since the 0-2 weekend in Washington, Billings is averaging over 21 points and 11 rebounds per game, including a career-high 30 point performance against Oregon on Jan. 15.
She has developed a dominant postgame that has become the go-to play call for the Bruins late down the stretch, and it gets her to the free throw line 8.3 times per game.
Having attempted 157 free throws this season, 26 more than her previous career high of 131, it is clear that teams are struggling to slow down Billings’ inside game. However, she is shooting 64 percent from the charity stripe this season compared to 68 percent last season.
