Women’s basketball defeats Oregon in third game against a top-10 opponent
Senior forward Michaela Onyenwere put up a career-high 33 points in then-No. 11 UCLA women’s basketball’s victory over then-No. 8 Oregon. Onyenwere also added 10 rebounds to her total as well as making all eight of her free-throw attempts. (Anika Chakrabarti/Daily Bruin staff)
Women's Basketball
| No. 11 UCLA | 73 |
| No. 8 Oregon | 71 |
By Gavin Carlson
Jan. 4, 2021 3:01 p.m.
It was a game of milestones for Michaela Onyenwere on Jan. 3 afternoon.
The senior forward scored a career-high 33 points, moved up two spots to 14th on the Bruins’ all-time scoring list and made the game-winning shot with 51 seconds left as then-No. 11 UCLA women’s basketball (6-2, 4-2 Pac-12) handed then-No. 8 Oregon (8-1, 6-1) its first loss of the season with a 73-71 victory.
Sophomore guard Charisma Osborne-who scored 22 points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc-said she wasn’t shocked by Onyenwere’s career game.
“She’s one of the hardest workers that I’ve ever seen,” Osborne said. “For her to come out here and score 33 points is just no surprise to me.”
Onyenwere also led the team in rebounding, finishing with 10 boards to complete the 27th double-double of her career. Her final rebound came following her own missed 3-point attempt and led to her game-winning putback layup. The two points put her career scoring total at 1,600 after passing former Bruins Atonye Nyingifa-who ended her career with UCLA in 2014-and Dora Dome-who finished in 1988-on the all-time scoring list during the game.
Coach Cori Close praised Onyenwere’s ability to remain unselfish after historic games such as this one.
“She’s just phenomenal,” Close said. “The thing that makes me so happy about her … is that she’s the exact same whether she has a game like she did tonight or she has a game where she struggles. It’s never about (Onyenwere.)”
Onyenwere and Osborne accounted for 55 of UCLA’s 73 points, with no other Bruin player scoring more than five points. The remaining six Bruins shot a combined 7-of-25 from the field.
Despite a season-low two rebounds and her second lowest-scoring output of the season with five points, senior forward Lauryn Miller finished with a team-high plus-14 plus-minus and forced a jump ball with 0.3 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Onyenwere said Miller’s defense at the end of the game made the difference.
“Those were really really big defensive plays that we needed,” Onyenwere said. “She’s a leader of our team and she might not show that statistically all the time but she does the little things that really really matter and keeps our team together.”
With every player other than Osborne and Onyenwere scoring below their points per game average, UCLA’s defense stepped up to get the win by holding the second-best scoring offense in the Pac-12-Oregon was averaging 85.1 points per game-to its second-worst scoring output of the season with 71.
The Ducks came into the game with a 27-game winning streak dating back to last season. They also hadn’t lost a game at Matthew Knight Arena since Feb. 22, 2019 when the same Close-led UCLA squad upset Oregon by erasing a 22-point deficit.
Sunday’s game was the third time this season UCLA faced off against an AP Top-10 opponent, losing to then-No. 9 Arizona and No. 1 Stanford on Dec. 4 and Dec. 21, respectively. Oregon, meanwhile, came into the matchup against UCLA having only played one game against a ranked opponent when it defeated then-No. 15 Oregon State.
Close said her team’s experience against better competition ultimately made the difference against the Ducks.
“We lose to Arizona in a close game and against Stanford … I think that paid off for us tonight,” Close said. “It played a major factor that we had been in those scenarios and Oregon had not at this point.”
One player who did not experience those scenarios was newly added freshman guard Dominique Darius. After officially joining the roster just six days prior to the game, Darius played seven minutes and scored her first collegiate points with a second-quarter layup. She filled in for redshirt junior guard Chantel Horvat, who missed her third consecutive game with a lower leg injury.
Even with roster uncertainty, Osborne said she wasn’t surprised the team pulled off the upset.
“Absolutely not,” Osborne said. “We came in here expecting to win. We’ve been working hard, and I’m not surprised at all that we won.”
UCLA’s next scheduled game is against Colorado on Friday at Pauley Pavilion.
