By Bruce Tran
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s basketball team knows what likely faces
it this weekend at the inaugural Pac-10 Tournament. They’ll
receive a dose of déjà vu with a rematch of last
weekend’s games against the Bay Area schools, which the
Bruins split with a victory over Cal and a defeat to Stanford.
And barring a string of big upsets, the team’s
roller-coaster season will likely come to an end. The team’s
only means of entering the NCAA Tournament ““ and continuing
its season ““ is by winning the Pac-10 Tournament to pick up
the guaranteed bid. To do so, UCLA would need to win three
consecutive games against teams that have swept the Bruins this
season.
“The Pac-10, in a nutshell, is big-time
competition,” UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said.
“Everyone, including Stanford and the other upper tier teams,
needs to win games to get into the NCAA Tournament, so everyone
will be playing all-out. It’ll be high-level competition, and
we’re going to see some good games.”
The Bruins will first face Cal, who they swept this season,
including a 58-48 defensive battle last Friday. While the Bruins
shot only 33.8%, the Golden Bears were held to 22.6% shooting.
Center Ami Forney has led Cal with 11.7 points per game and 6.7
rebounds per game this season.
Should the Bruins defeat Cal, they move on to a Saturday matchup
with Stanford, ranked second nationally and undefeated in Pac-10
play. The Cardinal has defeated UCLA by an average of 24.5 points
this year. Last Sunday, despite an inspired offensive effort by the
Bruins, Stanford’s hot shooting led the Cardinal to a 98-80
victory.
“Stanford is such a disciplined team, and they have so
many people to turn to for scoring,” Olivier said.
“Still, we took care of rebounding and free throw shooting
against Stanford, and it made for a much more entertaining game. We
were never in the game against Stanford, but at least we made them
work.”
The Bruins enter the tournament on a high, with Olivier pleased
by her team’s showings against Cal and Stanford. Sophomore
guard Gennifer Arranaga has set career-highs in points in each of
the last two games, scoring 14 against Cal, then 21 against
Stanford. Against the Cardinal, five Bruins made it to double
figures ““ the first time that has happened all season. The
intensity has also increased with UCLA’s defensive stand
against Cal and the offensive outburst against Stanford.
“If we do the little things, then we’ll be in every
game,” Olivier said. “We’re opening up against
Cal on Friday, and then take it from there.”