Women’s basketball falls to No. 3 Connecticut by double digits after early lead

This post was updated Dec. 11 at 6:15 p.m.

Entering this week, Connecticut hadn’t lost back-to-back games since 1993. 

With a chance to break the streak after the Huskies’ loss Thursday, the Bruins were down by three with a little more than six minutes left in the game. 

However, as the deficit sat at six, junior guard Charisma Osborne was forced to leave the game with a cramp in her left calf, taking her team’s chances at winning with her.

With its leading scorer dealing with a fourth-quarter injury, UCLA women’s basketball (5-3) fell to UConn (6-2, 1-0 Big East) in the Never Forget Tribute Classic in Newark, New Jersey, by a score of 71-61. Osborne checked back in with 3:48 remaining in the contest and scored three straight baskets in the last two minutes – including back-to-back 3-pointers – to spark a 12-2 run, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.

“In that moment, obviously time was going down, … so I was really just like, ‘OK, what can I do to put my team in a position to win?’” Osborne said. “In my mindset, I was just like, ‘I need to make these shots, I need to do whatever it takes to try to get our team back in the game.’”

Osborne recorded 26 points in the matinée matchup while making a career-high seven 3-pointers to pass former UCLA guard Japreece Dean for fifth all-time in program history with 135. Graduate student forward IImar’I Thomas and graduate student guard Jaelynn Penn chipped in 10 points each, but no other Bruin recorded more than five points. 

The Huskies, on the other hand, had five players score in double figures. Guard Caroline Ducharme and forward Dorka Juhasz combined for 30 points – including 16 on 5-of-5 shooting from Juhasz – to step up in the absence of guard Paige Bueckers, the reigning AP Player of the Year, as well as several rotation players. 

“Our roster doesn’t look exactly the way we thought it would at this time and neither does theirs,” said coach Cori Close. “I have a great relationship with (UConn) coach (Geno) Auriemma – I have tons of respect for him. Those kids were going to respond, we knew that.”

After missing her first shot of the game, Osborne hit back-to-back 3-pointers, trading baskets with UConn guard Evina Westbrook to knot the game at 6-6 after the opening five minutes. Behind another long-range shot from Osborne and six points from Penn, the Bruins jumped out to a 17-13 lead after the first quarter.

Osborne went on to score 12 points in the half – all coming off 3-pointers – while Penn contributed 10 points to help the blue and gold hang onto a two-point lead heading into the locker room. However, the rest of the team combined to shoot 0-of-11 from beyond the arc and 32.5% from the field across the first two quarters. 

Close said she expected the matchup to be centered around containing the Huskies’ backcourt duo of Westbrook and guard Christyn Williams – who combined for 28 points on 28 shots – but the lack of defensive control in the paint proved to be the Bruins’ downfall.

“I thought the game was going to be a lot of the Westbrook-Williams versus Penn-Osborne matchup, but our identity needs to be playing through the paint first,” Close said. “We’ve got to do a better job consistently on defense. Our rebounding has got to be better, and that needs to be our identity – it just isn’t yet.”

But after holding its last opponent, San Jose State, scoreless in a quarter last Sunday, the tables turned for UCLA this time out in the third quarter.

After a jump shot from Thomas to extend the lead to 42-36, the Bruins were held scoreless for four minutes, giving way for the Huskies to go on a 14-0 run and take an eight-point lead. The blue and gold missed its last eight field goals of the quarter after starting 5-of-6 and entered the fourth quarter down by six. 

“Basketball is a game of runs, but why those runs are happening are different,” Close said. “We need to do a better job of recognizing that and responding quicker. … How quickly we respond is (under our control), and we have to grow in that area.”

UCLA kicked off the final quarter with a layup from Thomas off a dish from Osborne. After two scoreless minutes, Auriemma was called for a technical foul with 7:44 left in the game after arguing a non-call on a fast break, and Osborne sank the two free throws to put the Bruins within two points of the Huskies.

But following a 3-pointer from the left corner by Williams around a minute later, Osborne was seen holding her left leg on the ground and exited the court with a cramp, allowing the Huskies to pull away with one last run before the junior guard checked back in minutes later. 

Osborne and redshirt freshman guard Dominique Onu brought the score to within four points with 37 seconds remaining, but UConn netted five more free throws to secure the win and avoid its first back-to-back loss in more than 10,000 days. 

Penn said the team will have to learn from its struggles and use its third loss in the past five games to develop greater chemistry as the season progresses.

“It’s easier to learn, but it hits harder on losses,” Penn said. “We’re upset and frustrated, but we realize that we need to get together and the willingness to grow is really up there.”