The Bruins met a formidable opponent. And when showcasing their potential, they responded with a nine-point loss against the reigning champions.

No. 15 UCLA women’s basketball (7-1) ended its best season start since 2019, with a loss against No. 1 South Carolina (7-0). The blue and gold ventured into the season unranked for the first time since 2015, but after seven consecutive wins they were able to advance to the No. 15 position in the NCAA rankings. Despite their undefeated season start, the Bruins still fell short to the Gamecocks in their first game of the season, which took place in their opponents’ territory Tuesday evening.

South Carolina picked up its sixth straight win this season with the 73-64 win, after losing just two games last season and winning the NCAA championship. The Gamecocks had 11 returning players from their championship team, including a top-ranked player of the year forward in Aliyah Boston.

UCLA showed that its new-look team with the top recruiting class in the nation is able to compete with a championship team by maintaining the lead for 25 minutes of the game, and limiting its opponent’s offense early.

“I love the heart, and the potential, and I love the growth that this team showed,” said coach Cori Close. “It is very clear that they’re going to grow into something very special.”

The Bruins limited Boston to one shot attempt in the paint in the first quarter with their zone defense, which allowed one player to constantly guard Boston. The zone was packed in the paint to limit South Carolina’s inside shots, from which its normal average is above 48 points a game. In the first frame, the Gamecocks were limited to eight points in the paint and a 35.3% field goal percentage, while the Bruins shot 53.33% from inside, their highest field goal percentage of any quarter throughout the contest.

While the zone defense was able to limit South Carolina’s offense for the first half of the game, three mid-range shots by graduate student guard Kierra Fletcher, who was left with a lot of space due to the focus on the paint, forced the Bruins to readjust their defense.

“Fletcher is very timely,” Close said. “She did the same thing against Stanford, … it was sort of like dèjá vu. I wish we could maybe have gotten out of that a little quicker.”

As UCLA adjusted its defense near the end of the third quarter, the Gamecocks shifted in response, putting three bigs on the court. This adjustment allowed South Carolina to score inside the paint, which changed the trajectory of the game. In the fourth quarter, center Kamila Cardoso racked up 10 points inside the paint.

“They were very disciplined in the fourth quarter on what they wanted to do and we just couldn’t stop them from doing that,” Close said.

UCLA continued to fight until the final buzzer with senior guard Charisma Osborne, who was the leading scorer of the night, gaining five points in the last 55 seconds of the game to limit the deficit to as low as seven points. Ultimately, the Bruins could not come back in the end, and the game closed with the final score of 64-73.

“I’m really proud of the mindset that we came in here with,” Osborne said. “Obviously there’s some things that we need to clean up but I’m super proud of this team.”

While UCLA did not come home with the win, they were able to outscore the number one team in points off of turnovers and tie them with fast break points. South Carolina was able to break away with the win with its performance in the paint, as well as its bench players, who out-scored UCLA’s bench 27-6.

“This is going to be a series over the next five years,” Close said. “We are going to be two very prominent teams in women’s basketball. It’s going to be a great battle to watch, and I think we’re going to grow our game together.”

The Bruins’ next match will be closer to home, as they play UC Santa Barbara this Saturday at 7 p.m.