Oregon outmatches UCLA women’s basketball in midweek nonconference meeting

This post was updated Feb. 17 at 12:11 p.m.

After sweeping the Ducks last season, the Bruins trailed from start to finish in the two teams’ lone regular-season matchup of the year.

UCLA women’s basketball (11-9, 6-6 Pac-12) fell to Oregon (17-8, 9-4) by a score of 67-53 in Eugene on Wednesday evening. The loss did not count toward Pac-12 play because the Bruins forfeited a game to the Ducks earlier in the year when they failed to meet the minimum requirement of active players.

“I’m pissed off,” said coach Cori Close. “(The players) didn’t do what we asked (them) to do from the start. I don’t want to be a broken record, but we have to take some responsibility for the things under our control.”

Leading 8-7 with 6:06 left in the first quarter, Oregon ended the frame on a 12-2 run to take a 20-9 advantage over UCLA.

The Bruins committed six turnovers in the opening period and conceded 11 points off those giveaways. UCLA also made four of its 10 total shots attempted compared to Oregon’s 8-of-14 mark from the field, which included 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.

In the second quarter, the Ducks extended their run to 16-2 with two more scores before redshirt freshman guard Dominique Onu cashed in on two straight midrange jumpers to end the run. Onu went a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and converted a three-point play to score seven points in the quarter – the most in a quarter in her career.

Onu said her mindset was to help support junior guard Charisma Osborne – the Bruins’ leading scorer – on the offensive end by being more assertive.

“My mentality coming into the game was just to be aggressive,” Onu said. “I just wanted to have my teammates’ back and (Osborne’s) back. (She) is one of our best scorers on the team, so I just wanted to help her just drive and kick out and do the things we need to do to help our other offensive players.”

But other than Onu, UCLA shot 2-of-12 from the field and scored four points in the second period. Osborne was held to five points for the entire half as the Ducks pushed the score to 40-20 by the half.

Osborne said the turnovers and missed shots were not a direct result of the opposing defense but rather mainly because of self-inflicted mistakes.

“We just made it hard for ourselves,” Osborne said. “We weren’t executing what we were supposed to execute. We just had scout and practice yesterday, we went over things today, and we didn’t go out there and do what we were supposed to do. We cannot wait until the second half to do that.”

Trailing by 20 at the midway break, UCLA saw Osborne open the second half with a four-point play to help jump-start an 11-point scoring quarter for herself. Onu added another six points – four from the free-throw line – in the period to set a new career high with 13 points in three quarters of play. Onu finished the game with 16 points, tying her for the team lead with Osborne.

Osborne and Onu’s efforts led UCLA to a 24-point quarter, which was aided by 10 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points. Redshirt senior guard Chantel Horvat secured four offensive rebounds and scored three points while graduate student forward IImar’I Thomas grabbed three offensive boards and added four third-quarter points of her own.

In addition to scoring a game-high 24 points in the third quarter, UCLA held Oregon to its second-lowest scoring quarter of the game to cut the lead to 10 going into the fourth quarter.

Osborne said halftime messages helped spark a comeback attempt but restated the importance of playing consistently throughout the entire game.

“Coach Cori challenged us in the locker room, and we just knew, ‘We can’t go back out there in the second half and play the same way we played in the first half, or we’re going to get blown out by 50 points,’” Osborne said. “Against good teams, you cannot wait until the second half to do it. You have to do it all four quarters.”

While the defense continued to limit the Ducks in the fourth and final frame, the Bruins went scoreless in the last 3:54 of the game and shot 4-of-18 from the field en route to the 14-point loss. 

Close said she is proud of the quality of her players as people, but more is needed from them as basketball players in order for the team to succeed moving forward.

“We have great kids. We have great young women. I respect them greatly, and I will never stop teaching from the inside out,” Close said. “But we didn’t come here to join a sorority, we came here to be an elite basketball program. ”