Monday, March 1, 1999
Washington stays alive with victory over UCLA
WHOOPS: Key players foul out; UCLA allows Oregon to move
ahead
By Jeff Kmiotek
Daily Bruin Staff
A simple look at the scorecard would tell the tale of the
Bruins’ 96-85 upset loss to Washington. UCLA’s stat sheet was full
of fouls, and as quickly as the whistle blew Saturday night, the
Bruins fell a game behind Oregon for first place in the Pac-10.
Washington, playing an inspired game on senior night in front of
a raucous crowd of 4,649, pulled away in the final minutes of what
had been a close game.
And Maylana Martin, Marie Philman, Erica Gomez and Melanie
Pearson all had great views as the final buzzer sounded. All were
on the bench. All had fouled out. In total, the Bruins (21-7, 13-3
in Pac-10) were called for 33 fouls, translating to 47 free throws
for the Huskies.
The Huskies (14-12, 10-7), needing a win to keep their NCAA
tournament hopes alive, converted 29 free throws, including seven
straight to extend their lead to 87-76 in the closing minutes. The
Bruins had been leading throughout much of the second half. But the
Huskies had too much intensity, the crowd had too much energy and
the referees had too much delight hearing a whistle tweet.
"Maylana gets her fifth foul on an out-of-bounds play which
could have gone either way, and we never recovered from that," said
Olivier.
That offensive foul, which took away a basket for Martin,
occurred with about five minutes remaining. Martin, UCLA’s leading
scorer and rebounder, finished with 14 points and eight boards,
both below her season averages.
Washington’s Jamie Redd led all scorers with 26 points, but the
real story was Amber Hall. Hall, hobbling on a sprained ankle
suffered only two nights before, netted 23 points and grabbed 10
rebounds.
It was basically a do or die game for the Huskies, who were
playing in the final game in Hec Edmundson Pavilion before a
year-long renovation gets underway. A loss would have almost
certainly sent them to the NIT. Now, they have a shot at the
NCAAs.
"I don’t want to say they wanted it more, but their backs were
against the wall. We already know we’re in the tournament," said
Olivier. "They had to win their last games."
UCLA had a 34-31 lead going into halftime, although three of its
starters picked up two fouls after the first seven minutes. The
tempo picked up in the second half, but the score remained close.
UCLA held a five-point advantage, 63-58, with fewer than ten
minutes remaining. But the Huskies scored seven straight points to
take a 65-63 lead and never trailed again.
"We talked at halftime about how we played a good half, but that
we needed a great half," said Washington head coach June
Daugherty.
Her wish was granted, as UCLA was outscored 65-51 in following
half.
LaCresha Flannigan scored 22 points to lead the Bruins and Erica
Gomez dished out five assists. Gomez needs just two more assists to
pass Ann Meyers as UCLA’s career leader.
* * *
UCLA’s trip to Washington began with a 104-70 whipping of the
Washington State Cougars on Thursday night.
Maylana Martin scored 23 points and pulled down 10 boards as
UCLA made an astounding 69 percent of its field goals. LaCresha
Flannigan added 22 points for the Bruins, and Janae Hubbard chipped
in with eight rebounds. UCLA utterly dominated the boards,
out-rebounding the Cougars by a margin of 43-18.
The Bruins shot 63 percent in the first half to take a 49-32
lead. But they were just warming up for the second half, in which
they made 20 of 26 shots (76.9 percent). Martin converted nine of
her 11 attempts and added five assists and five steals.
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