ASU 78 UCLA 60
By Joshua Mason
Daily Bruin Reporter
It’s getting to the point where the UCLA women’s
basketball squad (3-20, 2-10 Pac-10) has accepted its catastrophic
fate on the road, where the Bruins have not won this season.
Suffocated by the fact that their two best rebounders got into
foul trouble early in Saturday’s matchup at Ned Wulk Court,
the Bruins were unable to keep up with the more physical Sun
Devils, losing their seventh straight game by a final tally of
78-60. The game marked Arizona State’s first-ever sweep of
UCLA in school history, as the Bruins fell to them earlier in the
season, 78-68.
The No. 24 Sun Devils (18-7, 10-3) entered the weekend series
against UCLA and USC in a three-way tie for first place in the
Pac-10. Saturday’s victory enabled them to secure sole
possession of the conference lead.
“We said this was opportunity knocking, so we wanted to
open the door and grab it,” Arizona State Head Coach Charli
Turner Thorne said. “You never think you have an easy game in
the Pac-10, especially since this was upset weekend in the
conference.”
In the game’s first period, the Bruins faced a familiar
problem with sophomore forward Kristee Porter and junior center
Malika Leatham both getting into foul trouble early. The result was
a near flawless performance for Arizona State junior center Melody
Johnson, who finished the night perfect offensively, scoring 23
points on a 10-of-10 performance from the field.
“Because we lacked a consistent presence on the inside, we
were definitely outsized on the post,” Bruin Head Coach Kathy
Olivier said. “They took advantage of that and Johnson simply
used her body to dominate our lack of any real size.”
The loss of minutes from Porter and Leatham was apparent in the
game’s final numbers. Most revealing was the fact that
5-foot-1 point guard Natalie Nakase led all Bruin rebounders with
eight boards on the night.
Porter finished the night with a team-leading 16 points, but her
31 minutes of action limited her on the defensive end as she
finished with only three defensive boards. Leatham, who played only
nine minutes, wasn’t able to manage anything in either the
scoring or rebounding departments.
“We really don’t have much height to start out
with,” junior guard Michelle Greco added. “So when we
get into foul trouble like we did, it is very hard for us to
succeed.”
Arizona State’s dominance over the Bruins extended far
beyond Johnson’s performance.
Aside from dominating the inside, the Sun Devils also
effectively spread the ball around the court, shooting 63 percent
(17 of 27) in the first half and finishing the night at 54.7
percent (29 of 53) from the field.
On the UCLA end, there was little offensive production aside
from the scoring triumvirate of Porter with 16, Greco with 15 and
forward Whitney Jones with 13 points.
The game seemed within UCLA’s reach until the Sun Devils
closed out the first period with a 12-1 run, spurred by Amanda
Levens, who hit a three-pointer and two free throws just before
halftime. Despite equally pacing the Sun Devils in the second half,
their 42-24 first half advantage was too great for the Bruins to
overcome.
“We’ve had such a problem with getting off to bad
starts on the road this season,” Olivier said. “We tend
to put our heads down and just have a really hard time picking
ourselves back up.”
The Bruins return home this weekend to face Oregon and Oregon
State.