Friday, February 20, 1998
Trojan defeat would help honor alumnae
PREVIEW: Former UCLA champs to view game against crosstown
rival
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s basketball team is planning a big party for
Saturday afternoon in Pauley Pavilion, and they are hoping that
some Trojans don’t come in and spoil the fun.
The Bruins (15-7, 10-3 Pac-10) are planning to honor the
1977-1978 UCLA National Championship team, the only one in school
history, and the program’s top 15 players at the halftime of their
game against Southern Cal (10-12, 5-8 Pac-10) which begins at 2
p.m. on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
But head coach Kathy Olivier knows that the Trojans want to come
in and spoil the celebration.
"Our team has to come out ready to play against them," Olivier
said. "Who cares if they are in seventh place in the Pac-10 and are
having a bad year? That means nothing. They are going to come in
here and want to be the spoilers and kick our butts."
The Bruins will be playing in front of the best that have ever
suited up in blue and gold for the program, and a loss in front of
the likes of former coach Billie Moore, Anne Meyers, Denise Curry,
and Natalie Williams would truly ruin the festivities.
"I know it would put a damper on the evening if we don’t win,"
Olivier said. "I think our players are going to get up for it. It’s
‘SC, if you can’t get up for ‘SC then you can’t get up."
Olivier also feels some pressure from the fact that legendary
Bruin coach Billie Moore, who amassed 296 victories in her stellar
career, will be sitting in the stands.
"I like doing well in front of her," said Olivier, who took over
the program in 1993 after being an assistant coach under Moore for
seven years. "Just because I know if we make mistakes she’ll get on
me, which is good."
Maylana Martin, UCLA’s All-American forward candidate, feels the
pressure won’t come from the stands but from the standings.
"Just the fact that we are playing USC and we need to win anyway
is going to be the pressure enough," Martin said.
The Bruins are currently in second place in the Pac-10
conference at 10-3 and need a win not only to stay within an arm’s
length of Stanford, who has a 11-1 record, but to stay in reach of
a tournament bid.
Although UCLA has 15 wins on the year, only two have come
against ranked opponents (against Washington and Duke).
The Bruins will have to bring their "A" game on Saturday to
defeat the Trojans, who have not only owned the crosstown rivalry
(28-19), but despite their poor record, have the ability to
challenge UCLA this season.
On Jan. 23, when these two teams met at USC’s Lyon Center, the
Bruins squeaked through with a 68-64 victory. The Trojans had a
chance to push the game into overtime, but failed on a three-point
try by Kristin Clark, who finished the game with 25 points. Some
Bruin free throws sealed the deal.
"We need not to play like we did last time against them," Martin
said, who is coming off arguably her best game as a collegiate.
Saturday against Cal, she was a nearly perfect 14 of 16 from the
floor and finished the game with 28 points and 7 rebounds.
"We need to come out and show them what kind of a ball club we
really are. We didn’t play the best game against them. We can’t let
them take us out of our game again."
Not only will the top 15 players of all time be in attendance,
but so will many other onlookers, as Olivier expects a big
crowd.
"I’ve been hearing that it is going to be a bigger crowd than
Stanford, which is just great for women’s basketball," Olivier
said. The team had a school record 5,662 in the stands when they
played Stanford at home this year.
"It’s good for women’s basketball to get that kind of a fan
base."
But the big crowd and the halftime festivities could all be
ruined by a scrappy Trojan team on Saturday.
"Hopefully our players will step up and have a tremendous
afternoon because that would cap off the celebration of the 15
greatest players and the national championship team coming back,"
assistant coach Pam Walker said.