MARY HOLSCHER Sophomore forward Kristee
Porter takes a jump shot over OSU last week. Porter and
the rest of the Bruins play Washington State tonight.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. UCLA vs. Washington
State Tonight 7 p.m. Pauley Pavilion Radio 850 AM
By Joshua Mason
Daily Bruin Reporter
Tonight the Bruins will pull all their resources together in a
final effort to end the season on a positive note.
In their first contest of the weekend, UCLA (4-23, 3-13 Pac-10)
will match up with Washington State (11-15, 6-10), perhaps the team
most vulnerable to an attack by the Bruins. Though the Cougars beat
the Bruins in the teams’ first meeting this season, it came
at a time when UCLA guard Michelle Greco was out with the flu.
“Even though I didn’t get to play the last time
against Washington State, I really felt like we could have
won,” said Greco, who needs just five more points to record
No. 1,000 for her career. “We played so well against them at
their place that we feel really confident matching up against them
this time around.”
Washington State snapped an eight-game UCLA series win-streak
with a convincing 74-52 win at Pullman the last time around. Bruin
guards A.J. Bradley and Natalie Nakase paced the Bruins with 11
points apiece.
For both the Bruins and Cougars, the weekend series represents
the final two games of both teams’ seasons.
As both sit firmly at the bottom of the Pac-10 standings,
it’s clear that no opportunity remains for either team to
gain a postseason berth.
“We know we’ve had the role of spoiler all year, and
now is our chance to capitalize on it,” UCLA Head Coach Kathy
Olivier said. “The only problem is that Washington State is
in a position similar to us, and I’m sure they’re
thinking the same thing.”
The Bruins will also have to muster enough strength to look past
a tough time up North last weekend, when they lost consecutive
games to Cal and Stanford and extended their losing streak to three
games.
“The morale of the team is actually in good shape after
playing up North,” sophomore forward Kristee Porter said.
“We felt good about the game even though we didn’t win.
We played hard.”
On Saturday, the stakes for playing spoiler will be even higher,
as UCLA will be taking on the conference-leading Huskies at Pauley
Pavilion in their final game of the year.
“This team tends to step it up a level for big
games,” Olivier said. “With a big crowd expected for
Saturday, anything can happen.”