Monday, February 23, 1998
Record crowd, legends cheer team to sweep crosstown rival
WRAP Trojans take early lead but fans push UCLA to 87-73 win
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Contributor
In a game in which the UCLA women’s basketball program
celebrated its stellar history, the Bruins made some history of
their own.
In Saturday afternoon’s game against USC, the Bruins honored the
1977-1978 UCLA women’s national championship team – the only one in
school history – and the program’s top 15 players.
In front of the Bruin greats, UCLA (16-7, 11-3) pulled away from
USC (10-13, 5-9) in the second half to notch a 87-73 victory before
a raucous 7,258 fans.
The crowd was the largest ever to watch a UCLA women’s
basketball regular season game and the third largest to ever watch
a women’s basketball game in Pauley Pavilion history. Only two
playoff games, during the 1977-1978 championship run, had bigger
crowds than Saturday’s game.
The victory also put the Bruins in the school record books by
sweeping the Trojans in the regular season. UCLA had beaten the
Women of Troy 68-64 on Jan. 23 at USC’s Lyon Center. This year’s
season sweep made it the first time a UCLA women’s basketball team
has swept the Trojans since the 1989-90 season.
But the main story was the crowd. The Bruins had been averaging
a dismal 1,308 per game. Many were shocked by the droves of people,
mostly young children, that came out for the game.
"I didn’t expect it to be this big," said Denise Curry, who
played on the 1978 championship team and was one of the honorees on
Saturday. "I was an assistant at Cal for six years, and up to a
couple of years ago I came here every year to coach. The crowds
were OK but nothing compared to this.
"This afternoon I showed up, and I had no idea there would be
6,000 to 7,000 people here. It’s great. I’m pleased to see a lot of
young players, a lot of young girls, and it’s nice to see them come
out and support UCLA basketball."
After the gold medal victory by the USA women’s basketball team
in the 1996 Atlanta games and the establishment of the Women’s
National Basketball Association (WNBA) last summer, the women’s
basketball fan base of recent years has reached heights the sport
has never seen in its history.
"I think the big crowd today is great for women’s basketball,"
head coach Kathy Olivier said. "Not only for UCLA but women’s
basketball in general. For us to get a crowd like this it is really
saying something about L.A. and where women’s basketball is
going."
"The crowd was great," Bruin point guard Erica Gomez said. "I
loved it. I wish we can play in front of crowds like that all the
time. I think it only helps our team because we play so much
better."
The crowd stayed loud the entire game. Even when USC jumped out
to a 26-19 lead with 9:15 left in the first half, the crowd pushed
the Bruins on a 17-6 run in the next five minutes.
"I noticed how loud it was when I was trying to call plays,"
said Gomez, who finished the game with 17 points and six assists.
"People couldn’t hear and I’m like, ‘Dang, is it that loud in
here?’"
The game would go back in forth until the Bruins captured a
46-40 lead at the break.
With centers Jane Hubbard and Carly Funicello getting four fouls
early in the second half, other Bruin players had to step up.
Sophomore Marie Philman was one of those clutch players as she
sparked the Bruins to a 11-2 run to open the second half, scoring
seven of her 15 points.
But it was a balanced attack that beat the Trojans. Nine of the
12 players on the team received 10 minutes or more. Showing great
depth, the Bruin bench once again beat the opposition for its 19th
game this season.
"(Our depth) is definitely one of our key points," Gomez said.
"We have three and four and maybe sometimes five people coming off
the bench. It helps us because the other team gets tired of our
defensive pressure as we keep throwing bodies on them."
"When teams are getting tired, we are getting where its like
‘C’mon I want some more minutes,’" Olivier said. "I went in there
to prove I should be able to play more minutes."
The victory, which kept the Bruins two games behind of
first-place Stanford in the Pac-10, impressed some of the Bruin
honorees.
"I think it’s a great team," Curry said, who is arguably the
best women’s basketball player in Bruin history, topping the list
for most career points.
"Certainly the best is in front of them too. They are having a
good year this year. They are capable of doing some good things
when they get to the tournament. Certainly the next year and the
following year they should be even tougher."
The sweep of the Trojans also says a lot about the future of
this team. The Bruins, one has to remember, are still mainly a
young team with eight sophomores on the roster, four of whom
start.
"I think that this team has so much potential," Olivier
said.
"And for us to accomplish something like this (sweeping the
Trojans) I’m thinking, ‘What’s next? What can we do next?’"