By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The Bruins have only won three games so far this season, but one
of those wins was an inspirational 65-53 drubbing over the rival
USC Trojans on Jan. 14.
So this Saturday, when UCLA (3-17, 2-7 Pac-10) and USC (8-11,
3-6) meet for their rematch at the Sports Arena, the Bruins are
hoping for similar success.
“I hope we’ll come out like we did in our previous
game against them because I think that was our best game of the
season,” sophomore guard Natalie Nakase said.
“It was good (to win) because we’re a very
hard-working group,” said head coach Kathy Olivier.” It
was nice to have that hard work pay off.”
The key to winning Saturday will be what won the game for the
Bruins the first time around.
“We just played smart,” Olivier said. “We took
care of the ball, and defensively, made them shoot where they
weren’t comfortable.”
But a challenge for the Bruins will be playing the Trojans on
their home court.
“Since we’re going to be at their house, it’s
going to be a different environment for us,” Nakase said.
“We’re more comfortable at Pauley Pavilion, but it
doesn’t change how we play. It will motivate us to play
harder.”
UCLA and USC both fell to Stanford and Cal last weekend. Before
that, the Trojans upset the conference-leading Oregon schools. UCLA
last won a game Jan. 20 over then No. 18 Arizona.
Both teams have similar defenses: they are No. 1 and No. 2 in
the conference in steals (UCLA 11.2, USC 10.2) and are also No. 1
and No. 2 in opponent turnovers per game (USC 23.1, UCLA 22.9). The
teams have high-pressure, full and half-court defensive
strategies.
Two of the conference’s best rebounders, USC’s Ebony
Hoffman and UCLA’s Kristee Porter, will be going head-to-head
Saturday. Hoffman averages 8.2 rpg, while Porter is right behind
her at 7.7 rpg.
The Bruins say they need to protect the lane, lay low on the
fouling, and stop any Trojan drives and runs.
“We’re looking to get them out of their offense and
make them do things that they don’t normally do,”
Porter said.
Most of all, they need to disrupt the USC gameplan.
“Last time we played, they seemed uneasy,” Nakase
said. “Their second half outside shooting was terrible, so
hopefully on Saturday, they’ll continue that against
us.”
As they enter Saturday’s game, the Bruins carry the memory
of the last one with them.
“We’re confident going into the game,” Porter
said. “We played them early in the season and we match up
well, so we’re confident going into Saturday.”
With contributions by Scott Schultz, Daily Bruin
Contributor.