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Women’s basketball aims to bounce back from home with final 3 nonconference matchups

Redshirt freshman guard Dominique Onu holds the ball in UCLA women’s basketball’s win over San Jose State on Dec. 5. (Sakshi Joglekar/Assistant Photo editor)

Women's basketball


Texas Southern
Thursday, 7 p.m.

Pauley Pavilion
UCLA Live Stream
No. 24 Ohio State
Sunday, 5 p.m.

Pauley Pavilion
Pac-12 Networks
Cal State Northridge
Tuesday, 1 p.m.

Pauley Pavilion
UCLA Live Stream

By Gavin Carlson

Dec. 16, 2021 1:09 p.m.

After an unsuccessful one-game road trip across the country, the Bruins will be back in Westwood for their final three nonconference games of the regular season.

UCLA women’s basketball (5-3) will begin the three-game stretch in Pauley Pavilion on Thursday against Texas Southern (0-6) before taking on No. 24 Ohio State (8-2) on Sunday and Cal State Bakersfield (1-7) on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

The homestand comes following the Bruins’ 71-61 defeat in the Never Forget Tribute Classic against then-No. 3 UConn in New Jersey on Dec. 11.

Regarding the loss, coach Cori Close said rewatching the game made her increasingly frustrated.

“We didn’t control our own attitude, effort (and) concentration,” Close said. “The more I watched the film, the more I just was disappointed that we let so many things that are under our control slip through our fingertips.”

The blue and gold will have the opportunity to bounce back from its recent loss in a matchup against a Texas Southern team that has lost by double digits in every game it has played. In their two games against Pac-12 opponents thus far, the Tigers lost by 55 points to Arizona and 32 points to Colorado.

In their practices leading up to Thursday’s game, redshirt freshman guard Dominique Onu said the Bruins have put an emphasis on screening teammates open to improve shot selection after shooting 32.9% from the field against the Huskies.

“Both people in the action are responsible for setting up the screen and setting a good screen,” Onu said. “Offensively we’re pretty good but (Close) always emphasizes screens – once we get that down really well our team’s going to become much better than we are now.”

Along with the Bruins’ shooting woes, their 61 points in the game were their lowest thus far in a season where they’ve scored less than 70 points in half of their contests.

However, junior guard Charisma Osborne is coming off a career-high seven 3-pointers and a game-high 26 points.

Despite Osborne shooting 8-of-24 from the field, Close said she’s pleased with her guard’s growth and added that she needs that volume of shooting from her every game.

“She’s starting to just take such personal responsibility for every rep being the best in the gym, to being the hardest worker, to being the best leader,” Close said. “I need her to be that aggressive every single day – that was a good step in the right direction and now she’s got to strive for consistency with that level of aggression.”

Osborne – who currently leads the Pac-12 in scoring with 19.6 points per game – said her hard work has allowed her to increasingly believe in her abilities.

“My confidence has gone up,” Osborne said. “I’ve been doing a lot of extra shooting outside of practice as well, so I think just when I take those shots I know that I’ve put in the work.”

Led by Osborne, UCLA’s 75.1 points per game average will be put to the test three days after its game against Texas Southern when it takes on Ohio State and its 86.5 points per game Sunday.

The Buckeyes have three scorers averaging at least 13.5 points and shoot 49.6% from the field and 40.5% from beyond the arc. They’ve also scored over 85 points in seven of their ten games – which the Bruins have done just once this season – and average a 26.1-point margin of victory.

“Their top three scorers are as good a trio as (we’ve) faced in the country,” Close said. “If we want to come out with a victory against Ohio State, our defense is going to have to go to another level and (that’s) good, that’s what we want to be forced to.”

UCLA’s final nonconference game of the regular season will be against a Cal State Bakersfield team that, outside of a 111-19 win over Bethesda of the NCCAA, is winless and averaging 54.4 points per game.

In their contest against Pepperdine – their one mutual matchup with the Bruins this season – the Roadrunners lost by 10 and held the Waves to 52 points. Meanwhile, the blue and gold won by 9 against the same opponent, but allowed 69 points in the victory.

With Pac-12 play approaching, Osborne said she and her fellow leaders on the team are encouraging their squad to grow in time for the conference stretch.

“Me and (graduate student guard Jaelynn Penn) and other leaders on our team have really been trying to challenge people to step up and do their job,” Osborne said. “I’m definitely just excited to see our team continue to make steps in the right direction. Hopefully as we continue to do that and get more people back, we’ll continue to grow to the team that we want to be.”

UCLA will begin the homestand against Texas Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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Gavin Carlson | Sports staff
Carlson is currently a staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. He was previously a reporter on the softball and men's golf beats.
Carlson is currently a staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. He was previously a reporter on the softball and men's golf beats.
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