Women’s basketball ascends rankings to No. 5 spot despite season’s challenges

The Bruins are in the top five for the first time since November 2017, but the journey to the top has been full of obstacles behind the scenes, according to coach Cori Close.

After a 61-49 loss to then-No. 1 Stanford on Dec. 21, No. 5 UCLA women’s basketball (9-2, 7-2 Pac-12) fell to 0-2 against ranked opponents, forcing Close to call out her team.

Close said her verbal challenge after the loss to the Cardinal helped motivate her players to change the situation.

“After (Stanford) beat us at our place, we said, ‘We aren’t the toughest team in the Pac-12. … If we don’t become (that), nothing is going to change,’” Close said. “They were on a quest from that time on to become, day by day, rep by rep, the toughest, most together team.”

Since then, the Bruins have won four games in a row including three against ranked teams. Their latest victory was a 70-66 win Friday night against that same Cardinal team.

During the team’s second four-game winning streak of the season, UCLA has been able to sustain success despite dealing with multiple injuries. While already playing only eight players regularly, midseason injuries to senior forward Michaela Onyenwere, redshirt junior guard Chantel Horvat and others have left practice numbers even more diminished, creating a challenge for the coaching staff, according to Close.

Directly after the win against Stanford, Close said the one aspect that has been hurt the most with the limited number has been rebounding.

“We can’t even practice rebounding, we only have usually four players on any given day that can practice,” Close said. “Michaela is barely practicing, Chantel hasn’t been practicing until the last week – it has been my most challenging time. The cards are not in our favor.”

Despite the inability to practice getting boards as a team, the Bruins rank third in the Pac-12 in rebounds per game with 41.5, and out-rebounded the Cardinal – whose 45.4 rebounds per game rank first in the conference – 44-to-31 in the victory, including a 21-to-7 offensive rebounding advantage.

Close said the team has been forced to rely on individual film and one-on-one attention in order to make up for the lack of healthy players at each practice.

For freshman forward Emily Bessoir – who is one of two Bruins who hasn’t missed practice time, along with redshirt senior guard Natalie Chou – the unique forms of workouts have not affected her statistical growth. Bessoir recorded a career-high nine rebounds in the win against Stanford and is one of only two Bruins to score in double figures in both matchups against the Cardinal with Onyenwere being the other.

After the game, Bessoir said the film sessions have helped her improve her rebounding fundamentals this season.

“(Rebounding) was a huge emphasis,” Bessoir said. “For me personally, we’ve been watching film for me to get into better position and box out more.”

Implementing a New Offense

The limited practice numbers have come during a season in which Close has installed a new offense. Sophomore guard Charisma Osborne, who leads the team in scoring with 18.6 points per game, said learning the offense has been tough, but the team is improving as time goes on.

“This year we started a new offense – we started doing five out which has been pretty tough,” Osborne said. “There’s so many different reads and stuff, but as we’re getting going in this season, I think that we’ve been able to just rely on each other and really try to figure out what each person likes.”

For Close, coaching during the unusual circumstances will continue to be a challenge, but she said she’s learning from other essential workers during the pandemic on how to keep moving forward.

“I’ve been thinking about the teachers that have been forced to do all this Zoom learning. … I’ve got to be like them, I’ve got to be a better teacher,” Close said. “I can’t control that I don’t have people to practice; I can’t control that I don’t have scout guys; I can’t control that we can’t even play five-on-five on most days. … I’ve actually really gotten a lot of inspiration from the teachers all around the country.”