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Despite defensive issues, women’s basketball defeats Long Beach State by 35 points

Junior forward Michaela Onyenwere scored 27 points, including 14 in the first quarter in No. 11 UCLA women’s basketball’s home win over Long Beach State on Thursday morning. (Joy Hong/Daily Bruin senior staff)

Women's Basketball


Long Beach State51
No. 11 UCLA86

By Dylan Dsouza

Nov. 15, 2019 1:58 a.m.

This post was updated Nov. 20 at 7:22 p.m.

First 12-0, then 8-0, and now 20-0.

The Bruins sure do know how to get off to a start.

Behind a 20-0 run to open the game, No. 11 UCLA women’s basketball (3-0) trounced Long Beach State (1-2) 86-51 in its third consecutive 20-plus point victory. The Bruins held the Beach to 33.3% shooting from the field and forced its Big West foe into 22 turnovers, which were converted into 33 points.

“We’re holding ourselves to championship-level standards,” said coach Cori Close. “So I don’t really consider it domination to be honest. I’m proud of how they’re growing, but I think there’s so much more in us.”

Junior forward Michaela Onyenwere led the Bruins in points, scoring 14 of her 27 points in the first quarter. She bested her combined point total in the first two matches of the season with 11-of-16 from the field.

Onyenwere alone had double the scoring output of Long Beach State in the first quarter.

“(Senior guard Japreece Dean) and everyone else were finding me down in the block,” Onyenwere said. “We talked about it in the locker room before the game – just getting rim runs and easy points in transition because that’s what we’re good at.”

Dean – making her season debut because of a redshirt contract – notched seven points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in 25 minutes. The Texas native went 3-of-12 from the field and 0-of-6 from 3-point range.

Dean said Long Beach State’s defensive schemes contributed to missed shots early.

“The zone threw me off a little bit just because I’m so good at penetrating,” Dean said. “I got it going just pushing the ball in transition. It’s easy to push the ball and get in the paint when you get stops.”

Despite the Bruins having 11 steals in the game and holding the Beach to single-digit point totals in the first and fourth quarters, Close said she wasn’t pleased with their consistency on the defensive end.

“I think it’s a mental thing; it’s an urgency thing,” Close said. “When you’re up 30, it’s hard to feel how important that possession is. … We have to understand that we’re committed to being a great defensive team.”

Close said her halftime talk emphasized the need to keep the Beach offense out of the paint, and to prevent Long Beach State guard Justina King from shooting 3s.

King had gone 3-of-4 from deep in the first half, and 16 seconds into the second half, she dropped in another 3-pointer.

Next possession down, the Beach attempted another 3, which bricked but resulted in an offensive rebound and missed layup.

Close had seen enough.

She yanked the entire starting lineup at the next dead ball, 83 seconds into the half.

“We need to prepare for other teams, not the teams we’re playing right now,” Dean said. “The Pac-12 teams that we are going to play are going to dominate us if we don’t play defense or rebound.”

The Bruins shot 7-of-26 from beyond the arc. Still, the 27% 3-point shooting effort was their best performance of the season thus far. Close’s squad shot 18% and 25% from deep in the first two games, respectively.

UCLA will next face Northern Colorado (0-3) on Nov. 22. The eight-day break between matches is tied for the longest the Bruins will get all regular season.

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Dylan Dsouza | Alumnus
Dsouza joined The Bruin as a freshman in 2016 and contributed until he graduated in 2020. He spent time on the women's basketball, men's basketball, women's tennis, men's tennis and women's volleyball beats.
Dsouza joined The Bruin as a freshman in 2016 and contributed until he graduated in 2020. He spent time on the women's basketball, men's basketball, women's tennis, men's tennis and women's volleyball beats.
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