Overtime loss against Arizona extends UCLA women’s basketball’s losing streak to 3

With 10 seconds left in overtime, the Bruins needed a 3-pointer to tie the game.

Emily Bessoir had already made four threes in the game, and the ball found her in the corner in the closing moments.

The redshirt sophomore forward got a solid look, but her game-tying jumper bounced off the back iron.

No. 14 UCLA women’s basketball (17-6, 6-5 Pac-12) dropped its third consecutive game of the season by a score of 71-66 in an overtime classic against No. 22 Arizona (17-5, 7-4). The Bruins led by 11 points with less than five minutes left in regulation, but they were outscored 11-0 during the final moments of the fourth quarter before falling short in the extra period.

The blue and gold have now lost twice in overtime and once by three points in its last three contests, something coach Cori Close said she takes full responsibility for.

“That’s on me,” Close said. “Games that close, I’ve got to get us better. I’ve got to get us to be able to take that game home, especially with that lead in the fourth quarter.”

In the final period, UCLA’s lead hovered around seven points for the first five minutes before freshman guard Londynn Jones drilled her fourth 3-pointer of the game to push the team’s lead to 11 with 4:49 left. 

The game seemed out of reach, but Arizona quickly proved it wasn’t.

The Wildcats made an 11-0 run in the final 4:13 of the game to tie the score at 61, and after a missed fading jumper from freshman guard Kiki Rice, they had a chance to seal the comeback win in regulation.

With 2.7 seconds left, guard Shaina Pellington looked to end the game with a bucket inside but missed her game-winning attempt at the buzzer.

With both teams knotted at 61, the Pac-12 battle went to overtime.

Pellington and forward Esmery Martinez continued their strong scoring performances with back-to-back baskets to start the extra period. The pair of Wildcats finished with 21 and 17 points, respectively.

Jones responded as she did all night with her fifth 3-point make of the game to hit the 20-point mark for the second time in her young career and cut Arizona’s lead to one. But after four Wildcat free throws and a Rice layup, Bessoir’s game-tying 3-point attempt didn’t fall.

Jones said the Bruins will have to rely on each other to learn from their three-game losing streak.

“Every loss is a learning opportunity,” Jones said. “We’re all experienced, we have multiple games where we can figure it out and get together, but it has to be together – that’s the biggest thing. It happens, but we’ll figure it out.”

Neither offense found much success in the opening quarter.

UCLA held Arizona to 23% shooting from the field in the contest’s first 10 minutes, including a 0-for-5 start from behind the arc. The Bruins shot an even worse 22%, but their 17-8 rebounding advantage – including 7-to-1 on the offensive glass – allowed them to attempt five more shots than their opponents and jump out to a 13-8 lead.

Leading 13-12 with 8:37 left in the second period, the Bruins splashed back-to-back 3-pointers courtesy of Bessoir and Jones. Rice then completed the run with a driving layup, and suddenly the blue and gold led 21-12.

Pellington kept the Wildcats within striking distance with eight points on 50% shooting in the frame. At the half, Pellington – one of the Pac-12’s most efficient scorers entering the game – accounted for more than half of her team’s points and led all scorers with 12 points on 54.5% shooting.

But outside of Pellington, Arizona shot 4-of-17 in the first 20 minutes, and UCLA went into the halftime break leading 29-23.

Then the Wildcats joined the 3-point party in the third quarter, courtesy of guard/forward Jade Loville.

The sharpshooter responded to a two-point first half and 0-for-2 shooting start from behind the arc with two 3-pointers in less than two minutes to cut the Bruins’ lead to two. Then Pellington continued her dominant interior scoring performance with three points the hard way courtesy of an and-one.

Suddenly Arizona had erased UCLA’s six-point halftime lead and led 32-31 three minutes into the third quarter.

But that was just the beginning of a third quarter dominated by three-point possessions.

Jones ended the Wildcats’ 9-2 start to the quarter with her third 3-point make of the game. A minute later, Loville and Bessoir traded a pair of threes within a nine-second span.

Bessoir and the Bruins weren’t done.

In addition to a pair of midrange jumpers from Jones, Rice and Bessoir each added one more 3-point make to close out the quarter with UCLA leading 49-42.

But UCLA would ultimately blow an even larger lead in the fourth quarter before falling in overtime.

After the 11th Pac-12 contest in the young careers of Rice and the rest of the Bruins’ top-ranked freshman recruiting class, the former No. 2-ranked prospect said it’s time to stop talking about gaining experience.

“We can’t blame it on being new and inexperienced,” Rice said. “At this point, we have enough opportunity and playing time, so we just need to get it done.”