UCLA women’s basketball secures win over Stanford for second straight season
Senior forward Michaela Onyenwere’s eight fourth-quarter points helped No. 6 UCLA women’s basketball secure another road victory against a ranked Pac-12 opponent. (Jason Zhu/Daily Bruin staff)
Women's Basketball
| No. 6 UCLA | 70 |
| No. 5 Stanford | 66 |
By Gavin Carlson
Jan. 22, 2021 10:02 p.m.
This post was updated Jan. 22 at 11:20 p.m.
With 6:15 left in the third quarter, Michaela Onyenwere grabbed her left elbow after a hard fall.
After starting the game 3-of-16 from the field, the Bruins’ leading scorer coming into the game was forced to sit out for four minutes and 22 seconds.
But the senior forward came back to score eight of UCLA’s 11 fourth-quarter points, including the game-clinching free throw in the final seconds to extend the lead to two possessions.
Coach Cori Close said Onyenwere’s response to adversity was true to her character.
“Well that’s who Michaela is,” Close said. “You just can count on what she’s going to bring no matter her circumstance. She is so tough and so other-centered that she will always just find a way.”
No. 6 UCLA women’s basketball (9-2, 7-2 Pac-12) defeated No. 5 Stanford (11-2, 9-2) 70-66 for its third victory in four games against a ranked Pac-12 opponent. The win also marks the second straight road victory over the Cardinal for the Bruins.
After a 3-pointer by freshman forward Emily Bessoir tied the score at 11 with 6:28 left in the first quarter, the Bruins did not score a field goal for over seven minutes. Stanford jumped out to a 20-15 lead as it shot 64% from the field compared to UCLA’s 24%.
But the Bruins were able to change course in the second quarter, outscoring the Cardinal 26-16 in the period. Sophomore guard Charisma Osborne, who played the entire first half, scored nine points in the quarter while shooting 4-of-7 from the field.
In the first half, UCLA had eight offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points compared to zero in both stats for Stanford. The Bruins took nine more shots than the Cardinal and made four more 3s to end the half up 41-36.
Bessoir, who scored 15 points off the bench in UCLA’s 61-49 loss to then-No. 1 Stanford on Dec. 21, scored in double-figures once again. In 24 minutes, she scored 11 points and secured nine rebounds to help the Bruins gain a 44-31 rebound advantage over the Cardinal.
Bessoir said rebounding struggles in the last matchup motivated the team to make that statistic a deciding factor this time around.
“In the last game we played, they outrebounded us by 14 rebounds, so that was a big emphasis,” Bessoir said. “I think we all just stepped up in that and it was a great effort from all of us to get those offensive boards. That was a huge part that led us to win.”
After the halftime break and during Onyenwere’s third-quarter absence, UCLA outscored Stanford 16-10 behind seven points from Osborne. She led the Bruins with 24 points, including 21 in the first three quarters to help UCLA to a 59-52 lead heading into the fourth.
Despite being the team’s leading scorer, Osborne said the entire team understood the situation and played a large role while Onyenwere was out.
“Michaela’s one of the best, in my opinion the best player in the country,” Osborne said. “Everyone knows that once Michaela’s out, everyone has to be ready to step up, and my teammates were good with getting me good screens and just me reading the defense was very helpful.”
Onyenwere finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds to record her second-straight double-double and the 29th of her career. Coming into the game, she was the lone player in the Pac-12 to rank in the top five in both scoring and rebounding with 18.1 and 9.1 per game, respectively.
The Cardinal outscored the Bruins 14-11 in the fourth quarter, including eight points from forward Francesca Belibi. She scored 14 points in just 17 minutes and was one of four starters to score 11 or more points.
But despite holding the Bruins to 2-of-13 shooting in the final period and marking the second straight game in which UCLA was outscored in the fourth, Stanford never held a lead since losing it in the second quarter.
The Bruins have won four-straight since their last loss to the Cardinal, and now move into a three-way tie in the loss column for first in the Pac-12 standings.
Bessoir said the loss to Stanford earlier in the campaign was a turning point in the Bruins’ season.
“We saw that we were able to compete with them and to beat them,” Bessoir said. “Taking that pain from the loss to be more disciplined in practice and to work more on the mental side … I believe that was a wake up call.”
