Women’s basketball falls to No. 1 Stanford by double digits

This post was updated Dec. 23 at 11:05 a.m.

While the Bruins lost the game, Emily Bessoir delivered a standout performance.

Deemed “the best freshman on the floor today” by coach Cori Close, the forward, playing in her seventh game, scored 15 points Monday afternoon, as No. 10 UCLA women’s basketball (5-2, 3-2 Pac-12) was unable to continue its four-game winning streak after falling short to undefeated No. 1 Stanford (7-0, 4-0) 61-49.

Monday marked the second time Bessoir had reached her career-high 15 points, and she also added five rebounds, one block and one steal all while shooting 5-of-12 from the field.

The freshman said she was grateful for the challenge to compete against the top team in the nation.

“It’s definitely motivating and exciting going against (the) No. 1 team in the country, and it’s also a great opportunity to measure ourselves, because I think for a long time we played them pretty well,” Bessoir said.

Bessoir’s 15 points made her the team’s second-highest scorer of the game, trailing senior forward Michaela Onyenwere, who combined with Bessoir to score 34 of the team’s 49 points.

Onyenwere acknowledged that Stanford is a tough program to compete against. While she commended her team for putting forth a great effort, she said they were not consistent throughout the game.

“Stanford is a great team – they did a really great job executing their sets, and I think that there are obviously some improvements to learn from this game,” Onyenwere said. “There were some stints in the game where we really did execute the game plan and we were getting stops and playing great defense, but we had too many mental lapses.”

The Bruins remained within at most a single-digit deficit throughout majority of the game, ending the first half trailing 31-26. But UCLA committed seven turnovers and shot 26.5% from the field in the second half, hindering its ability to close the gap further as the game proceeded.

Close said she does believe her team showed resilience against Stanford’s. She said she maintains high standards and continues to believe in her team’s strong abilities.

“We held them to 61 points, and there were a few errors we could have had back,” Close said. “We are a good defensive basketball team, but that’s what I expect. So I am not throwing a party of something that I already expect them to be really solid at.”

UCLA now enters a short winter break hiatus, but this year brings different circumstances for the players. While they are not able to travel home, some players’ families are still visiting, just under strict safety protocols.

Close said she does not want the players to think about basketball over the next four days in order to recharge.

“They need a mental break – this has been really difficult,” Close said. “It’s been hard for me as a 49-year-old adult, let alone an 18- to 22-year-old.”

After the break, UCLA is scheduled to play at Oregon State on Jan. 1.