Hopeful Bruins look to break the Cardinal rule

Friday, January 16, 1998

Hopeful Bruins look to break the Cardinal rule

W.BASKETBALL UCLA can’t rest on their laurels against Bears,
Stanford

By David Arnold

Daily Bruin Contributor

Polar opposites. The UCLA women’s basketball team will face two
completely different teams this weekend as they try to keep their
winning streak alive. The first team they have beat five times in a
row (Cal), while the other owns them (Stanford).

The Bruins (8-5, 3-1 Pac-10) need a win tonight as they play
host to Cal (5-8, 1-2 Pac-10), two days before Stanford (6-5, 3-1
Pac-10) comes to town.

There is a tendency for a team of UCLA’s caliber to look past
the Bears and begin getting ready for the Cardinal.

It is undeniable. Even head coach Kathy Olivier admits it’s "a
possibility."

The Bruins, tied for second in the Pac-10 with the Cardinal, are
on a roll, winning six of their last seven and three in a row,
sweeping the Oregon schools. As a team, they’re second in the
conference in scoring, blocks, steals, and offensive rebounds.
Individually they have the conference’s best player from the line
(forward Maylana Martin with .791), its second-best point guard
(Erica Gomez with 5.08 assists per game) and its third-best players
in points (Martin with 21.0 per game), rebounds (Martin with 8.2),
and steals (forward Aisha Veasley with 2.46)

Naturally they’d feel relatively comfortable going into any
Pac-10 game, let alone one with Cal.

Cal hasn’t won in the City of Angels (against either UCLA or
USC) since 1990, they’ve never swept the L.A. teams, they trail the
series with the Bruins 24-5, and they were 0-13 in away games last
year. The Bears have the worst offense in the conference – they’re
last in points scored, scoring margin, three-point percentage, and
three-pointers made.

Olivier maintains that, "In the Pac-10, if you take a nap you’ll
be beaten," and that tonight’s game won’t be a practice for
Sunday’s showdown.

The only two things that might rescue the Bears are the pitiful
Bruin defense (which has its share of conference lasts in points
given up, field goal percentage defense, and three-point percentage
defense), and the fact that the Bruins may be thinking about
Stanford.

It almost goes without saying that everything that Cal isn’t,
Stanford is. The Cardinal leads the conference in scoring,
defensive rebounds, and shot percentage both from in the field and
beyond the arc. Stanford has won the Pac-10 eight of the last nine
years, is currently ranked 11th, has been ranked in the top 25
every week for the last decade, and (up until Monday’s loss in
Arizona) had won 48 straight conference games. They’re third in the
nation in points scored, and they can boast a roster that looks
like an all-star team, including future pro-ball star Olympia Scott
and the Conference leader in assists, Milena Flores.

But this hasn’t exactly been Stanford’s greatest year.

"They’ve proven that they can be beaten," said Olivier, but
added that she "wouldn’t want to be ‘SC and play them right after a
loss."

They started the season 1-3, they’re dead last in the conference
in turnover margin (-3.46), they lost their best two players to the
pros last summer, Kate Starbird and Jamila Wideman. All this has
the rest of the Pac-10 licking their chops because there is no
better way to prove yourself in the West than beat Stanford.

If the Bruins beat the Bears in commanding fashion, look for the
blue and gold to shoot it out with high intensity on Sunday.
Otherwise, it may be another year of Cardinal rule.