Women’s basketball pursues perseverance ahead of match with Oregon State

After taking their first home loss of the season, the Bruins will head back on the road this weekend.

UCLA women’s basketball (9-5, 4-3, Pac-12) will travel to Corvallis to take on Oregon State (9-5, 2-2) on Sunday afternoon. The team was also scheduled to face off against No. 19 Oregon on Friday night, but the game was postponed because of injuries not related to COVID-19. The matchup counts as a forfeit and loss in the conference standings for the blue and gold.

Junior guard Charisma Osborne sustained a leg injury after falling during the third quarter during UCLA’s last matchup Wednesday against Arizona and did not return for the remainder of the game, leaving the Bruins with six active players. After the final buzzer, Close said she did not have immediate updates on Osborne’s availability ahead of this weekend’s matchup with Oregon State.

The matchup against the Beavers will be the Bruins’ first out-of-state away game since its 71-63 loss against Colorado on Jan. 9. Since that defeat, the blue and gold has won four of its last five contests, most recently falling to No. 8 Arizona by a score of 74-63.

Coach Cori Close said she encourages her team to continue to fight and take that spirit with it on the road.

“You got a choice – you either rise up and find new ways, unpredictable ways and choose to do hard things, or you’re disappointed a whole lot more,” Close said. “I can deal with fighters, that’s what I’m really trying to reinforce is that you did fight.”

When talking about Osborne, graduate student forward IImar’I Thomas – the Bruins’ second-leading scorer behind Osborne – said her scoring mate is strong and will keep getting up when she gets knocked down.

“She’s just a fighter, I mean she is definitely the head of the snake here with what she does,” Thomas said. “She sets the tone for us every day, so we know that if she’s doing that and every time she falls she’s going to get back up, we can definitely do the same.”

UCLA is coming off of its first loss at home this season against Arizona. The team shot 43.6% on field-goal attempts and 46.2% from behind the arc while its opponents converted on 39.3% and 40%, respectively.

Throughout the duration of the game, the Bruins faced full-court pressure as they tried to hold onto their lead against the Wildcats. Redshirt senior guard Chantel Horvat said facing Arizona — who is ranked first in the Pac-12 in both scoring margin and scoring defense — put a spark in her team to increase its defensive pressure in upcoming games.

“We said to each other in the locker room before the game, ‘Why can’t we be that great defensive team as well and why can’t we pressure them?’” Horvat said. “If we’ve learned anything in the last few games that we’ve played, it’s that defense can be our anchor.”

Thomas said the defeats and adversities this season haven’t broken the Bruins down, as they’re aware of the ups and downs of the game.

“We’re definitely never going to give up, it’s a game of runs so we know that,” Thomas said. “We’re never going to lay down for anybody, so we’re gonna keep that mentality the entire season and keep fighting hard.”