UCLA season opens with weekend tourney

  Keith Enriquez/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior
Malika Leatham fights off opponents from the
Slovakian team Monday.

By Mayar Zokaei
Daily Bruin Contributor

An exhibition season featuring only a 69-68 victory over the
Slovakian national team has concluded just as soon as it began for
the UCLA women’s basketball team. The Bruins travel to the
University of New Mexico this weekend to begin regular season play
in the Women’s Sports Foundation Basketball Classic.

UCLA opens tournament play against Duke on Friday in the first
contest of the tournament, with the winner advancing to
Saturday’s championship game against the winner of the
LSU-New Mexico matchup.

Ninth ranked LSU finished the 2000 campaign season 25-7 after
reaching the Elite Eight and getting ousted by eventual national
champion Connecticut in the Eastern Regional Championship.

Of the teams in the tournament, No. 4 Duke enters with the most
successful finish of the 1999 season, with its advancement to the
Sweet Sixteen last year on the heels of a 26-8 season.

Duke, which has won two exhibition games by an average of 38.5
points, is led by senior Georgia Schweitzer, the reigning ACC
Player of the Year and an All-America candidate who averaged 15.6
points per game last season.

“(Shweitzer) is a good player, but we’ll stick
(Michelle) Greco on her,” UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said.
“We’ll play a little zone too, and hopefully we can
contain her.”

The Blue Devils also boast 10 returning letter-winners and a
freshman class that has been regarded as high as No. 2 in the
nation, providing an early formidable challenge for the youth-laden
Bruin squad.

“They’re a good shooting team and we have to stay
active to stay in there,” Olivier added.

This year’s team, which includes seven players that were
not on last year’s NCAA tourney squad, is strikingly
different from the team that parlayed height and size into three
straight postseason berths, including an Elite Eight appearance in
1999 and the school’s first-ever Pac-10 championship the same
season.

For UCLA to stay competitive, the Bruins need another steady
performance from junior guard Michelle Greco, who posted a
game-high 25 points in the exhibition game after a foul-plagued
first half. Jalina Bradley provided a surprise offensive punch for
UCLA, scoring a career-high 14 points, including the last eight of
the game.

The Bruins also need contributions from the rest of the squad in
order to keep pace with Duke, especially from the triumvirate of
junior college transfers, who combined for only 14 points against
Slovakia. Shalada Allen scored eight points while Malika Leatham
grabbed nine rebounds.

“The transfers are still adjusting, but I like what I saw
from Leatham with regard to defense, and she also got some good
looks,” Olivier said.

“I expected myself to get a double-double, at least
10-10,” Leatham said. “I was a little nervous, but I
know we will find our niche.”