Bruins off to rough start with loss to St. Mary’s

Monday, November 24, 1997

Bruins off to rough start with loss to St. Mary’s

W. BASKETBALL:

UCLA can’t respond to Gaels’ show of shooting abilityBy Anthony
CinQue Carter

Daily Bruin Contributor

Following an exhibition season in which the Bruins went 2-0, it
seemed that their season opener would give them some breathing
room.

After a scenic bus ride from Berkeley to the city of Moraga in
Northern California, the UCLA women’s basketball team looked to
step on the St. Mary’s College Gaels of the lowly West Coast
Conference. Last year in Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins escaped with a
76-67 victory.

With the highly touted Erica Gomez, 1996 Pac-10 Freshman of the
Year, back in a Bruin uniform this year and Maylana Martin, 1997
Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in the lineup at the same time, this
team has people convinced that they can do damage.

Coming into the contest ranked 17th in the Sports Illustrated
preseason poll and 25th in Inside Sports and Athlon, UCLA wanted to
prove it belonged in the rankings after two consecutive 13-14
seasons. This, however, would not be the night of Bruin redemption.
On Friday evening, they fell 83-63 before an announced 1,001 fans
at McKeon Pavilion.

To open the contest, both teams showed their defensive prowess,
holding each other scoreless for the first 1:13.

Then the Gaels gave a preview of things to come when
5-foot-8-inch guard Leslie Quintall hit a three-pointer from well
beyond the arc that hit nothing but net.

But the Bruins didn’t get rattled; 38 seconds later, UCLA
displayed what they hoped would be a preview of things to come.

Gomez dropped a perfect no-look bounce pass to the surging
Martin who finished the play with a lay-up. 14 seconds later, it
was much of the same, as the two hooked up again for a Gomez to
Martin lay-up. Just that easily the Bruins had quieted the crowd
and secured a one-point lead.

But just as quickly, St. Mary’s answered with another
three-pointer, this time by 5-10 guard Stacey Berg. The Bruins
answered with a sensational acrobatic lay-up by senior forward
Aisha Veasley to tie it at six apiece.

After the tie, UCLA gained its first lead and extended it to
13-8 on a Marie Philman putback. Things were looking up for the
squad as the sophomore forward had been in for only 2:34 and
already had four points.

Veasley added a steal and a lay-up in that stretch but the
Bruins just ran out of answers and got no closer than two points in
the first half and no closer than seven beyond the 16:48 mark of
the second half.

"Our intensity was not there against St. Mary’s," UCLA head
coach Kathy Olivier said. "They mastered everything we did."

The major thing that went wrong for the Bruins was their
containment, or lack thereof, of the Gaels’ outside shooters.

The St. Mary’s long bombers out-gunned UCLA, 14 three-pointers
to one. And after trailing at the half, it was all downhill from
there.

"Offensively we missed a lot of shots and didn’t take care of
the ball," Olivier added. "St. Mary’s did very well against our
(defense). They looked like they’ve played together a long
time."

Leading the Gael arsenal was 5-foot-10-inch guard Tori Chung,
who had five three-pointers on six attempts and was
0-for-everything else during the contest. In fact, Chung shot 43
percent from three-point range and 3-for-23 from inside the arc
last year.

"They gamble a little bit (on defense) so we reverse the ball
and get people open," Gael head coach Kelly Graves said. "We got
really great bench play out of Tori, (6’4") Erin (Abraham) and
(6’0") J.R. (Payne)."

Abraham was the backup center but held her own against the
Bruins as she recorded key blocks that kept killing the Bruin
momentum.

Payne was the one who put the final nail in the coffin as she
hit St. Mary’s 14th three-pointer with 5:58 remaining to cap a 7-0
Gael run that put the home team up 73-52, leaving virtually no hope
for the Bruins.

St. Mary’s center Jamie Shine felt that beating the Bruins was
not as big a deal as everyone was making it.

"We expected to win," Shine said. "Our coach told us we could
beat this team. We got confidence early and when they did start
crashing the boards, we decided we couldn’t let them get second
shot. So we didn’t."

Martin has become a more physical player following her
international tour, but became frustrated many times on the evening
because the officials called the game closer on her than the
opponents.

The Bruin guards had a hard time getting the ball into the post
because the Gaels would collapse on Martin and 6’4" Carly Funicello
and there was no outside shooting to speak of.

"(Martin’s) a really skilled player. We knew we couldn’t stop
her from getting the ball but we really wanted to contain after she
got the ball," Shine said. "And I think we did.

"We’re starting a new era here with Coach Graves. And this win
definitely gets us on the right track."

The Bruins, however, have started this season on the exact
opposite path they wanted to. Their pounding by St. Mary’s leaves
them wondering what will happen against the likes of powerhouses
Stanford and Arizona.

But Olivier says she’s not too concerned about getting up for
the upper-echelon teams.

"We have a history of taking teams lightly. I’d rather play
against the Stanfords and the ‘SCs where there are the great
rivalries," Olivier said. "Against George Washington and Notre
Dame, we’ll be ready to go."

They’ll see next weekend as the Bruins take on George Washington
at Pauley Pavilion.