Bruins hope to snap losing streak against Toreros
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 27, 2000 9:00 p.m.
 BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomore
Jalina Bradley dribbles the ball through three
Utah players in the Bruins’ loss last week.
By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Contributor
The women’s basketball team returns to the friendly
confines of Pauley Pavilion tonight, and they’re chomping at
the bit for another shot at gaining their first victory of the
season when they face the University of San Diego Toreros at 7
p.m.
The Bruins (0-4) are coming off a difficult defeat on the road
against BYU Saturday at Provo, Utah, and are in the midst of the
slowest start in the history of the program.”I don’t
like to lose. I don’t have a high tolerance for that.
That’s not what you do at UCLA,” head coach Kathy
Olivier said. “We need to come out better at the beginning of
each half, and we’re going to have to make changes as a team
to do that.”
The young Bruin lineup has been placed in the challenging
position of replacing four of last year’s starters while
facing one of the NCAA’s most difficult schedules.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. UCLA
vs. USD Tonight 7 p.m. Pauley Pavilion www.uclabruins.com
To make matters worse, two of the Bruins’ anticipated
starters, LaCresha Flannigan and Nicole Kaczmarski, will not be
eligible to play this quarter.
The Toreros (1-0) are coming off a season opening 62-59 victory
at home against Long Beach State.
They are led by transfer forward Amber Jansen, who scored 21
points and grabbed nine rebounds in that game.
Last year, San Diego won the West Coast Conference Tournament,
earning them a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
They are one of seven non-conference teams who played in last
year’s March Madness that are on UCLA’s menu this
season.
“They’re very well coached, Kathy Marpe is an
excellent coach,” Olivier said. “They’ve only
played one game this season, and they’re coming to Pauley, so
hopefully we can play those things to our advantage.”
The Bruins will be relying on junior guard Michelle Greco, who
is averaging 18.5 points per game, to provide the scoring
punch.
“Our plan of attack is to push the ball up court, attack
them, play smart, and box out,” Greco said.
“We’re going to play hard defense and force them to put
the ball on the floor to where we want to trap them.”
Judging from the way they performed in practice, the home
hoopsters don’t seem to be letting their early setbacks
disrupt their self confidence. They’re looking forward to
removing the zero from their win column.
“We’re really pumped up. We’re tired of
losing,” said freshman Jamila Veasley. “We need to
score and keep scoring.”
In order for the Bruins to defeat the Toreros, UCLA will have to
avoid the scoring droughts which have plagued them in their four
games this season.
“We’re going to have to play a good forty minutes
together, as opposed to playing well for stretches and then taking
five, six or eight minutes breaks that have been killing us, but
that’s inexperience,” Olivier said.
“As much as they’re 0-4, I like this group,”
Olivier added. “They want to get better, they’re very
coachable, and they have a great attitude.”
