Women’s basketball manage to pillage Seton Hall Pirates 78-62

Cori Close repeated two words for her team after the game: “growth” and “toughness.”

“It was a lack of focus,” Close said. “We gave them opportunities and we started playing in a way to get through the game instead of using every possession as an opportunity to get better.”

Coming off an upset victory over No. 14 Georgia, UCLA women’s basketball (3-1) claimed a 78-62 victory against Seton Hall (4-1) at home Sunday afternoon.

Sophomore forward Lauryn Miller logged a career-high 12 points and one steal in Sunday’s game. Miller said that, despite the victory, the Bruins left with a feeling of dissatisfaction.

“We had a complacency about us,” Miller said. “We just got comfortable with the score we had.”

UCLA, which maintained its lead since the beginning of the first quarter, held Seton Hall to just six points in the third quarter. Seton Hall finished the game with more than 20 points less than its season average of 82.6 and shot 24 percent from behind the 3-point line – just about 10 percent below its season average.

By the end of the third quarter, the Bruins reached for 39 rebounds, recording almost twice that of the Pirates. UCLA was 12-of-17 at the free throw line, compared to Seton Hall, who hit just 6 of its 16 attempts from the charity stripe.

Senior guard Japreece Dean logged 20 points, hitting a season-high four 3-pointers. Dean said she entered the contest anticipating she would get good looks from beyond the arc.

“I knew that their game plan, that they were going to pack it into the paint,” Dean said. “I knew there would be a lot of kick-outs.”

The Bruins’ margin of victory shrunk by the end of the game after Seton Hall scored 25 points in the fourth quarter. Close said she was disappointed in the team’s effort in the final frame.

“We lost our growth mindset in the fourth quarter,” Close said. “Every opportunity, every possession has got to be an opportunity to get better, as opposed to surviving the quarter.”

UCLA turned the ball over about six more times than its season average, giving it away 22 times. The Pirates grabbed nine steals, logging 20 of their points off turnovers.

“It’s about rising and playing the level of basketball we want to play, regardless of the opponent and the score that we see,” Miller said. “We’ll definitely take this into account in order to make sure we play the 40 minutes of basketball we want to play.”

Forward Shadeen Samuels – who was one of two Pirates to start all 32 games last season – registered a double-double despite logging four personal fouls. Samuels was only one of two Pirates to hit a free throw, making two of her seven attempts at the line.

UCLA will next travel to play in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, facing North Carolina, Kentucky and South Florida.

“We’re about to play two of the best pressing teams in the country – North Carolina and Kentucky,” Close said. “We better learn quick.”