Women’s basketball falls to USC in double overtime, ending 16-game undefeated streak
Prior to Friday night, No. 7 UCLA women’s basketball was the only team in the country with a perfect record. But its road loss to USC in double overtime ended the Bruins’ streak. (Joy Hong/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Women's basketball
| No. 7 UCLA | 68 |
| USC | 70 |
By Dylan Dsouza
Jan. 17, 2020 11:46 p.m.
This post was updated Jan. 20 at 8:15 p.m.
Two points in a quarter isn’t a recipe for success.
Without its leading scorer junior forward Michaela Onyenwere, No. 7 UCLA women’s basketball (16-1, 5-1 Pac-12) scored just 17 points in the first half as it fell to USC (9-8, 1-5) 70-68 in double overtime Friday night at the Galen Center. With the loss, the Bruins’ run as the lone undefeated team in the nation came to an end.
Onyenwere was ruled out because of a sprained left ankle and was in a controlled ankle motion walking boot on the sidelines.
“We’ve known for about 24 hours what we were going to have,” said coach Cori Close. “Of course, we wished we would have had (Onyenwere), but that had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. I trusted our players and I will go to war with them any time.”
The match featured 15 lead changes and two ties with the Bruins leading for 21 minutes, 23 seconds.
But without Onyenwere, the Bruins mustered only two points in the second quarter, failing to convert on all 15 field goal attempts and shooting just 2-of-6 from the charity stripe during that span. The only two UCLA points of the frame came on free throws by redshirt junior guard Japreece Dean with 9:01 left in the quarter.
Close said the Bruins’ lack of offensive production in the first two periods of play was because of the Bruins’ overuse of isolation plays, instead of intelligently moving the ball to create good looks.
“We were just trying to do too much off the bounce,” Close said. “We tried to play way too much one-on-one instead of using passes, cutting, screening to put them behind the play and create mismatches that were good for us.”
Dean led the Bruins offensively with 24 points on 9-of-26 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and four assists in nearly 46 minutes of play.
“I just don’t think we deserved to win this game even though we had several opportunities,” Dean said. “We just didn’t come out ready to fight. Now, people know they can beat us. We’re not untouchable.”
The Bruins more than doubled their scoring output from the first half in the third quarter alone, with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field. UCLA stormed back and even took the lead in the fourth quarter, up by one with 9:32 to go in regulation.
Freshman guard Charisma Osborne bore the scoring burden in the second half, contributing 18 of her 20 points in that span.
“Once I started making shots in the second half, they tried to stop me from getting the handoffs and just pressuring me when I went off screens,” Osborne said. “I just tried to do what I do and pass to my teammates.”
As time ticked away, however, both squads traded blows and finished the fourth quarter all knotted up at 51.
Down three with seconds to go in overtime, Dean brought the ball up the court on the right-hand side. She fired a cross-court pass to redshirt junior guard Natalie Chou, who played a combined four seconds in the second half and overtime, in the left corner, who swished the 3-pointer to send the game to double overtime.
In the second overtime period, the Bruins held a six-point lead after going on a 7-1 run with 2:33 remaining but were unable to keep the Trojans from responding with a run of their own.
“It’s always my responsibility,” Close said. “You have a six-point lead in (double) overtime, I’m going to go back and see how I could have coached a better game. How could I have managed that better?”
With 27 seconds left in the game, USC forward Alissa Pili received the ball from guard Aliyah Jeune, hitting a layup and drawing a foul to put the Trojans up by two with the ensuing free throw on the 3-point play.
The Bruins brought the ball down the court, and with 17 seconds left, Chou had the chance to take the lead with another three from the same left corner – but this time it didn’t go down.
After Chou’s 3-pointer went long, the Bruins were forced to foul to extend the game. Trojan forward Kayla Overbeck missed both free throws, giving the Bruins another chance to even the score.
On what would be the last possession of the game, junior guard Chantel Horvat drove toward the hoop, but failed to hit the rim on a driving left-handed layup as time expired.
The Bruins will return home to take on Washington on Jan. 24.
