Bruins look to win back confidence
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 23, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff TYSON EVANS
Sophomore forward Jamila Veasley hopes to help
her team defeat Oregon State Thursday.
By Jackie Abellada
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s basketball team (5-12, 2-6 Pac-10) is
getting ready for what maybe its biggest challenge yet ““
regaining its lost confidence.
Missed layups, missed open shots, missed rebounds of late have
been spreading almost like a disease on this Bruin squad, infecting
everyone from starters to bench players.
The cure? A healthy dose of a morale booster in the form of a
Confidence Award.
“We were talking about staying confident, telling them
that we were going to do some Confidence Award on the road,”
head coach Kathy Olivier said. “We might do a little tribute
at the end of our road trip to whoever gets that award.
They’re all going to work hard to achieve it, including my
staff.”
What may have started as a little joke to get some laughs and
smiles might actually be just what these Bruins need. Right now,
they aren’t executing.
“A lot of it for us is just mental,” sophomore
forward Jamila Veasley said. “We just have to stay focused on
those little shots.
“If we miss a shot, come back and take another. If
you’re not shooting, then we don’t have anybody else
that is going to.”
The squad must now see if its “cure” has achieved
the desired result on the players when it faces off against Oregon
State (10-9, 6-3) today on the road.
And this one is not going to be easy. The two teams have already
met once this year, with UCLA losing by a score of 79-65.
The biggest factor in that contest, like almost all the previous
matchups between the two squads, was the performance of Pac-10
Player of the Week and OSU guard Felicia Ragland. She racked up 32
points, hitting from almost anywhere in the court.
“You just have to know Ragland’s strengths, which
are driving to the basket, pulling out for a quick three or a quick
jump shot and we just have to be ready for that,” said Bruin
guard Michelle Greco, who has had the pleasure, or maybe
displeasure, of guarding Ragland in the past. “Defensively,
we have to stay on our toes and be ready for whatever she
counters.”
Needless to say, the Bruins are gearing up for an all-out
physical battle against the Beavers, who are vying with Arizona
State and USC for second place in the conference. But maybe more
importantly, they are preparing to win something they have lost
somewhere along the season ““ their confidence.
“They are a good team and good teams are fighting for the
top half of the conference,” Olivier said. “We just
have to go in there at their home and be ready for a tough, tough
basketball game.”
