Monday, January 11, 1999
Bruin women win to stay atop Pac-10
RECAP: Perfect season in conference possible as UCLA looks
strong
By A. CinQue Carter
Daily Bruin Staff
Welcome to 1999 Pac-10 women’s basketball.
Oregon came to California this past weekend looking for an
upset. Not against Stanford – they defeated the Cardinal two weeks
ago. So you would imagine that it would be against the other
conference power in California – USC. But actually, the Ducks beat
them on Friday night.
So who remains? The 10th-ranked UCLA Bruins. Waving the banner
for a conference in transition, the Bruins (12-4, 4-0 Pac-10)
defeated Oregon, 76-72, just two days after destroying Oregon
State, 105-50.
The Bruins are now the only team that has won all its conference
games, and are favored to win each of its games for the rest of the
regular season.
"This is where we want to be," junior forward Maylana Martin
said of the Bruins’ national standing. "This was our goal as
freshmen. We knew we could produce these kinds of results. We just
needed to be there mentally to do it. Now this is our time."
It so happens that UCLA is also the lone Pac-10 team with Top 25
status in either the AP or ESPN polls, but Oregon is on the verge
of breaking through.
Forty seconds into the game, Martin scored on a layup assisted
by fellow junior forward Marie Philman. Less than 30 seconds later,
sophomore LaCresha Flannigan, starting her eighth consecutive game
at shooting guard, produced a very acrobatic wraparound,
double-pump layup.
Two free throws by Flannigan sandwiched by a Philman layup and
pair of free throws had the Bruins up 10-2 and rolling.
But Jody Runge has not steered her Ducks to five straight NCAA
appearances without making coaching adjustments during games. Runge
substituted reserve Shaquala Williams for starter Karen Piers and
that move made all the difference.
After feeling her way around the court for roughly 40 seconds,
Williams scored on a layup and then dished the ball to Natasha
O’Brien who hit a three-pointer. Angelina Wolvert finished Oregon’s
7-0 run with a layup of her own and suddenly the score was 10-9 and
the Pauley Pavilion crowd had a game on their hands.
Hubbard, who has been plagued by foul trouble at times
throughout her career, had only one foul at the break and had
grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
O’Brien, an Oregon forward, had the hot hand for the Ducks,
going two for two from behind the arc and five of seven overall,
scoring 12 points and bringing the score to 35-34 at
intermission.
The second half opened up with Oregon continuing their positive
effort and UCLA regressing. Halfway through the second half, UCLA
had nine fouls and the Ducks had only three. Additionally, Hubbard
was on the bench with three fouls and Oregon held a 52-47 lead.
Not until the 4:44 mark, however, did the Bruins come back to
life.
Following a play in which junior point guard Erica Gomez was
fouled, Olivier was whistled for a technical foul while the teams
were being lined up. Gomez made one of two, Oregon made one of two
and got the ball out of bounds. But the Bruins stopped their
opponents, closing out the game with a 16-5 run.
"The technical was important," Martin said. "It was the turning
point. We didn’t let it get to us. We stopped focusing on the refs
so much at that point."
Added Olivier, "Our defense began to force them to become
stagnant. Down the stretch we did a great job and came up with the
rebounds."
With 1:26 to go Hubbard dove for a loose ball, dished it to
freshman guard Michelle Greco, who dished it to Martin who made the
layup, got fouled and made the free throw.
"She was wide open," Greco said of Martin discussing their
collaboration. "It was a momentum change. You’ve got to reward your
big people when they’re doing things like Hubbard did, and May was
there so I passed it to her."
Nursing a four-point lead, the Bruins fouled Oregon’s Nicole
Strange while she was shooting, and her bucket and free throw made
it a one-point game again.
Martin made a nice pass to Hubbard who was fouled while shooting
the layup and missed. She did, however, convert one of two free
throws she was awarded to give the Bruins a two-point
advantage.
On the ensuing Ducks possession, Flannigan flooded a passing
lane, got a steal and converted a layup for the game’s final score
of 76-72.
"LaCresha’s role has gone up on this team," Olivier said. "She
is really doing some great things for us."
Not forgotten down the stretch was Gomez, who hit a crucial
three-pointer and finished with 10 points and five assists.
Hubbard led the Bruins in points and rebounds with 16 and 11,
Flannigan finished with 12 points and a board, Philman had nine
points, and junior guard Melanie Pearson hit two very important
threes for her six points.
Next up for the Bruins are California and Stanford this
weekend.
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