UCLA women’s basketball gears up for 2nd face off against Stanford

Both teams will have a chance at redemption when they meet face to face Friday night.

No. 6 UCLA women’s basketball (8-2, 6-2 Pac-12) can move into a tie for first place in the loss column in the Pac-12 with a win when it travels to Northern California to battle current conference leading-No. 5 Stanford (11-1, 8-1). Friday’s matchup will be the lone game of the weekend for UCLA after its game against Cal, scheduled for Sunday, was postponed because of COVID-19 issues within the Golden Bears program.

The Bruins have an opportunity to avenge their 61-49 home defeat to the then-No. 1 Cardinal on Dec. 21. Stanford, on the other hand, hopes to bounce back from its 77-72 overtime loss to Colorado on Sunday.

While excited to play the top team in the conference once again, coach Cori Close said playing the Cardinal after a loss adds an extra level of difficulty.

“The good news is we get to play Stanford, and the bad news is we get to play Stanford after Stanford lost,” Close said. “We know how we feel after a loss, and you want to get that taste out of your mouth. We’re going to have to rise up if we’re going to have a chance to keep that kind of taste in Stanford’s mouth.”

While the Cardinal are directly coming off a loss, the Bruins have not lost since the two teams met in late 2020. UCLA’s three-game winning streak includes two two-point victories against ranked opponents – a 73-71 victory over then-No. 8 Oregon and a 68-66 overtime win in its most recent game against then-No. 25 Washington State.

Redshirt junior guard Lindsey Corsaro said the lessons the team learned in its first matchup against Stanford have helped guide the latest winning streak.

“The last time we played them it kind of exposed a lot of gaps that we had as far as our toughness and togetherness,” Corsaro said. “That’s really been our focus since we’ve come back since Christmas break. In this conference and playing teams like Stanford and playing teams like Oregon, … everyone’s so talented that it truly does come down to toughness.”

Corsaro leads the Bruins with two steals per game and is second with 33.4 minutes per game despite suffering an injury in the middle of the season. Her backcourt mate – sophomore guard Charisma Osborne – leads the team with 34.2 minutes per game, has 16 more assists and 10 more 3s than the next highest Bruin and is second in scoring and blocks with 18.1 points per game and six total blocks on the season.

When asked what UCLA has improved on the most since the first Stanford matchup, Osborne reiterated the importance of toughness.

“Our toughness definitely (has improved),” Osborne said. “We talked a lot about being the tougher, more together team against Washington State because we knew that they were a really tough team in the Pac-12. But definitely going to Stanford I think that we need to be tough and really just improve in that.”

Osborne, who is coming off a 28-point performance in the overtime win against Washington State, scored just seven points in the Bruins’ last matchup against the Cardinal, while Corsaro had three points. Stanford is currently tied for first in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing just 55 points per game.

Despite the challenges Stanford defense presents, Corsaro said UCLA is prepared to improve offensively this time around.

“The way Stanford plays defense is to collapse and be really disciplined and try to make you hit tough outside shots,” Corsaro said. “We’ve worked a lot on moving off the ball on the perimeter … and looking for those kick-outs. We know that that’s how they’re going to play us, and I feel like we’ve been preparing in a good way to be patient.”

The Bruins and the Cardinal will tip off at 7 p.m at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz.