Close overtime win reveals season may be on rebound

  NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Bruin Whitney
Jones fights for the ball during UCLA’s 59-56 overtime win
against the Arizona Wildcats, the team’s second win in three games.
UCLA 59 Arizona 56

By Joshua Mason
Daily Bruin Reporter

It would be an understatement to say that the UCLA women’s
basketball program has witnessed a sudden resurgence in its
play.

The Bruins (3-13, 2-3 Pac-10), who began the season a horrid
1-12, have won two of their last three contests in conference play,
the most recent a 59-56 overtime victory over No. 19 Arizona (14-4,
4-2) Saturday in perhaps their strongest performance of the
season.

“This game was fun because we really put forth that extra
effort,” said head coach Kathy Olivier. “On the
rebounding end, we put bodies on people, and finished with almost
three of our players in double figures. If we keep making strides,
this basketball team is going to be pretty good.”

Junior Michelle Greco led the way for the Bruins, finishing the
night with 29 points on 12 of 29 shooting, the 14th time she has
led the team in scoring this season. Greco also improved her
Pac-10-leading 19.3 points per game despite shooting two free
throws that night.

Greco’s foul shots were perhaps her most important of the
game, scoring her 28th and 29th points at the end of overtime to
boost the Bruin lead to three and help seal Arizona’s fate
with just 5.3 seconds remaining. Arizona freshman Aimee Grzyb
followed Greco’s points with a 30-foot shot in a last-second
effort, but it fell well short of tying the game for a second
overtime.

Defensively, UCLA was bolstered by the sturdy play of forwards
Kristee Porter and Whitney Jones. Porter became the first Bruin
this season to finish with double-digits in rebounding for two
consecutive games, ending the night with 16 rebounds, 11 points,
and four blocked shots. Jones, whose aggressive defensive play
helped the Bruins tie up the fast-paced Wildcat offense, finished
the night with 11 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Overall, the contest was a hard-fought battle for both teams,
featuring eight ties and 16 lead changes. Arizona, which leads the
Pac-10 in scoring offense with 82.2 points per game, was held in
check by the Bruins, who exploited the fact that the
Wildcat’s top scoring threat, point guard Reshea Bristol, got
into foul trouble early in the game.

Bristol, who leads the Pac-10 in assists and steals and ranks
fifth in scoring, fouled three times in the first five minutes of
the game, and was relegated to the bench for most of the first
period. Though seeing more playing time in the second half, Bristol
fouled out with 4:27 left in regulation, and ended the day with
only two points on one-of-seven shooting.

Though Bristol’s replacement, junior Tysell Bozeman,
played well (17 points in 26 minutes of play), the effects of
losing their top player was obvious in the game’s final
stretch.

“Without Bristol, Arizona was lacking some leadership that
they could have used in the overtime,” Greco said.
“Bringing in the backup point guard helped us because
(Bristol) is their floor leader.”

Tied at 53 going into the five-minute overtime, UCLA jumped to
an early four-point lead after a Porter basket and a Greco jumper.
Arizona cut the lead to two at the 2:24 mark on a Krista Warren
shot, and Bozeman made it 57-56 after hitting one of three free
throws.

Both teams exchanged missed shots before Greco’s rebound
of her own missed jump shot got her fouled and put her at the line.
After a UCLA timeout, Arizona was forced to go the length of the
court, and Grzyb’s last-second appeal was their final
opportunity to send the game into another overtime.

The play the Bruins have been establishing in the last week
gives them much to look forward to. Despite giving up 78 points to
Arizona State, their defense has been one of the strong suits in
their recent resurgence.

“We talked about doubling down on their post players, and
we thought we did a good job of recognizing that Bozeman was
getting hot,” Olivier said. We are starting to have really
good awareness of each other.”

Equally telling of the Bruin’s success was the style in
which they crashed the boards, something that was missing for the
Bruins earlier in the season. UCLA outrebounded the Wildcats by ten
(55 to 45), and recorded an unreal 27 offensive boards.

“This team didn’t really block out as well as I
thought they would,” said Porter, who led the team in
offensive and defensive rebounds. “I’ve been out for a
while, but slowly and surely everything’s coming
back.”

With the play of Greco a consistent force to be reckoned with,
and the overall games of forwards Porter and Jones, who missed the
beginning of the season because they play volleyball and soccer
respectively, improving on a day-to-day basis, UCLA has quite a bit
to look forward to in a Pac-10 where no team has an undefeated
record in conference play.

“I think we’re really starting to gel as a
team,” Olivier said. “I’ve said this all year,
but this team really gets along, they have good team chemistry, and
you can tell by the way they play on the floor that they listen to
each other.

“Though our outlook seems positive, we need to continue to
take it one game at a time. I think our beating Arizona, a good
team, shows how competitive the Pac-10 is, and how on the road
it’s such a different game.”