Monday, January 26, 1998
Bruins smash losing record, prevail against Trojans, 68-64
W.BASKETBALL Home court advantage, unusual defense can’t save
USC
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Contributor
For years the UCLA women’s basketball program played second
fiddle to USC.
For it’s the Trojans who have two championship banners, 15
tournament appearances and an assortment of All-Americans.
But more importantly, entering Friday night’s game, USC had a
28-18 edge in the cross-town rivalry, which included 11 wins in the
last 12 meetings.
But on that night, the Bruins sent the Trojans a message that
they are not going to play second fiddle to USC any longer, as they
downed Southern Cal 68-64 in front of a raucous 1,150 in USC’s Lyon
Center – a court on which the Bruins have not won since March 8,
1991.
The win shows how far the Bruin program has come this
season.
UCLA, which finished last season 13-14, are currently winners of
eight of their last 10 games. But more importantly, the Bruins
(10-6 overall) are 5-2 in conference play, which is the best start
to a Pac-10 season since the 1990-1991 Bruin team went 5-2.
Their fifth Pac-10 victory came in a tough place to play – USC’s
Lyon Center.
"Everyone is just right there in that small gym," Maylana Martin
said. "It echoes and you can’t hear a word of what your teammates
are saying."
"It’s very hard (at) the free throw line because you have the
USC band right there," UCLA’s Janae Hubbard said, whose team shot
just 68 percent from the line. "That was the hardest thing because
they are so close to you."
The Bruins were able to not only hold off the USC band but the
Trojans as they garnered their fifth road win of the year.
"I just think that our team has a lot of confidence right now,"
UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said. "They felt that they were going
to win it all along, which is nice."
That confidence was tested in the first half by the Trojans,
which went on a 15-4 run to close out the first half. The run,
powered by USC’s point guard Kristin Clark’s 13 points, gave USC a
38-30 halftime lead.
Southern Cal (7-9, 2-5) was able to build much of their first
half lead because of Tiffany Washington’s stingy defense on UCLA’s
All-American candidate Martin.
Martin, who averages 20.2 points per game, was shut out by
Washington in the first half, shooting 0 for 5 from the field.
"I just think their defense is a lot different than any other
defense we have played against," Martin said. "They do that face
guard post thing. Instead of trying to get in front and face the
ball, they face you.
"It just took a while for our team as a whole to get used to
it."
Martin and the rest of the Bruins indeed got used to USC’s
aggressive defense in the second half as they got better ball
movement in the second half and were able to post up Martin.
Martin would end up finishing the game with 14 points and 10
rebounds.
But her great second half performance would have gone for naught
if UCLA’s Hubbard would have not missed Martin’s failed free throw
and put it back in to give the Bruins a 67-62 lead with 52 seconds
left, icing the game.
"Janae has been playing a lot more aggressively lately," Olivier
said, whose starting center finished with 15 points and six
rebounds.
With the loss, USC fell to 7-9 overall and 2-5 in the Pac-10,
uncharacteristic for a Southern Cal team. The program, which lost
seven seniors off last year’s 20-9 team, is in a rebuilding
stage.
"I think one thing that our team understands is frankly if
people don’t beat us now, you’ll never beat us," a downtrodden USC
head coach Chris Gobrecht said. "This is the toughest time this
program will go through."
DERRICK KUDO
UCLA’s Marie Philman dribbles around a USC player. The Bruins
beat the Trojans 68-64 Friday at the USC’s Lyon Center.