Bruins’ hopes fall short of hoop

UCLA 62 Arizona 77

By Jackie Abellada
Daily Bruin Contributor

The Bruins were stuck.

At 33. And at 35. And at 37.

It seemed like they were rapidly sinking in quicksand as shot
after shot just dropped in for the Wildcats while their side of the
stat sheet appeared to remain stagnant early in the second
half.

The UCLA women’s basketball squad suffered another defeat
last night. This time it was against Arizona (13-12, 9-7 Pac-10).
This time it was by a score of 77-62.

With a 26-4 run, Arizona blew the game wide open. A Wildcats
eight-point halftime lead had now exploded to a 30-point
advantage.

“I don’t think our defense was playing bad at
all,” UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said. “They were
just hitting everything.”

In the midst of that outburst, the Wildcats made five
consecutive three-pointers and shot an amazing 65 percent from the
field. Bruins shot only 32 percent from the field for the entire
game.

“We just let our guard down and let their three-point
shooters come in and take over,” Bruin center Sissy Pickett
said. “We just weren’t really aware.”

What should have been a close ball- game resulted in another
blowout.

The Bruins, despite making a run of their own late in the game,
were not able to overcome the insurmountable margin.

Wildcat Elizabeth Pickney did not disappoint the home crowd,
scoring 19 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Aimee Gryzb chipped
in with 16 points of her own, including four from behind the
arc.

“This was a game where we played brilliantly at times and
not so brilliantly at others,” Arizona head coach Joan
Bonvicini said in a statement. “At the start of the second
half was when we were brilliant. We were playing well inside and
out.”

Whitney Jones led the Bruins’ effort with a double-double
performance, scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds ““
both career highs.

“Whitney has been awesome for us all year,” Olivier
said. “When you give her clean looks, she will hit those
shots.

“She plays almost the entire game, and I don’t even
for a second think about taking her out. She’s an amazing
athlete to be able to do that.”

Jones was the only Bruin to score double digits in the game,
reaching the double-digit mark in points for the second straight
game. Unfortunately for the Bruins, she was also the only player to
score double-figures in their last outing.

Junior forward Natalie Jarrett came off the bench to add a
little spark to the Bruins’ offense late in the game. Her
nine points and six rebounds in just ten minutes kept the game
closer for the Bruins.

The Bruins (7-17, 3-12) must now head on over to Arizona State
tomorrow for its last road game of the season.