Toreros trounce Bruins, who still seek first win

  JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Jalina
Bradley goes up for a shot in the Bruins’ loss to USD
Tuesday. USD 86 UCLA 67

By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA women’s basketball team’s growing pains
continued Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion, as they are still in
search of their elusive first victory. Falling to the University of
San Diego 86-67 in front of a home crowd of 730, the Bruins fell to
0-5.

The Toreros (2-0) were led by junior forward Amber Jansen, who
led all scorers with 23 points on 8-11 shooting and also had a
game-high 12 rebounds. They beat the Bruins by dominating the
glass, outrebounding UCLA 48-35, and from beyond the arc, shooting
8-19 from 3-point range.

“It’s frustrating,” said freshman Gennifer
Arranaga, who came off the bench to energize the Bruins with 13
points. “We did what we had to do, and then we laid back. We
came out hungry, and then we lost the hunger.”

The Bruins came out trapping and successfully applied their
full-court press, confusing the Toreros into making turnovers and
causing them to burn a timeout one minute into the game.

The Bruin defense was tenacious in the first half, but when USD
was able to get shots off, they were hitting them at a 50 percent
clip, getting easy shots from a transition game that confounded the
Bruins all night.

USD rode the hot spot-up three-point shooting of sophomore Kerri
Nakamoto and built an early 10-point lead.

After a Bruin timeout with 11:48 remaining in the first half,
UCLA came out with an active, smothering defense. The Bruins forced
three straight turnovers that led to easy UCLA baskets, allowing
them to tie the score at 28.

The Bruins’ trapping and pressing caused 26 turnovers by
USD, but the home team could not take advantage on the offensive
end of the floor. While the defense was providing the offense with
good looks at the basket, UCLA was unable to finish, shooting only
40 percent for the game.

Every time the Bruins came within a basket of retaking the lead,
the Toreros would go on a mini-run, hitting three-pointers. They
built the lead back up to eight and the Bruins went into the half
trailing 41-33.

In the second half, the Toreros adjusted to the trapping defense
of the Bruins, using their measurable size advantage to beat the
press and create easy baskets. USD playing excellent transition
basketball and maintained their lead for the entire second
half.

The Bruins got into foul trouble early in the second half. They
were in the penalty with more than 14 minutes to play, and the
floodgates opened. The Toreros shot 26 of 33 from the charity
stripe, while the Bruins made only 10 of 21.

“We came out flat in the second half and made mistakes
that we cannot afford to make,” said junior guard Michelle
Greco, who led the Bruins with 18 points. “We’ll work
on these things in practice, and we’ll definitely get
better.”

The Bruins could not counter Jensen’s inside presence, as
she got a pair of easy layups to build a 23-point lead late in the
second half.

Whenever the Bruins cut the lead down, the Toreros made
three-pointers as their long-range shooting was effective all
evening.

Even when the Bruins were down by 27 late in the second half,
they refused to quit, diving on the floor for loose balls and
running back to deny easy baskets.

“We just have to find a way to play 40 minutes,”
Bruin head coach Kathy Olivier said. “They (USD) looked
comfortable. They have three returning starters from last
year’s tournament team and they did a good job.”

USD is one of seven non-conference teams on UCLA’s
schedule this season that played in the NCAA tournament last
season.

The Bruins will get another crack at their first victory of the
season on Saturday, when they travel to Boulder, Colo. to face
Colorado at 2 p.m.