The West Coast All-Stars may not have given the UCLA
women’s basketball team much of a fight, but they did give
them plenty of practice. In the lopsided 93-45 victory, UCLA coach
Kathy Olivier was primarily concerned with how her role players
would respond given ample playing time. For the most part, Olivier
was pleased with what she saw. So far, the likely starting pair of
sophomore Amanda Livingston and freshman Lindsey Pluimer have
allayed much of the frontcourt anxiety, thought to be the
Bruins’ Achilles heel. With her physical play and offensive
awareness, Livingston has proven that she has earned her starting
position. On Saturday, Livingston buried seven of her eight shots
en route to scoring 14 points in just 19 minutes. “Obviously
it feels great,” Livingston said of being a starter. “I
like the pressure. I like hearing my name called.” Pluimer
has been the biggest surprise in the preseason with her mobility
and ability to use her 6-foot-3 frame when defending and
rebounding. In the victory, Pluimer amassed a double-double,
scoring 10 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. As for guard play,
junior Ortal Oren, sophomore Shaina Zaidi and freshman Lauren
Pedersen all saw significant playing time against the West Coast
All-Stars. Both Oren and Pedersen have stood out as possible guards
that will step off the bench to provide relief for Nikki Blue, Lisa
Willis and Noelle Quinn. “It’s going to be a hit and
miss with those two,” Olivier said. “They both can
score, but we just want them to come and be solid, not try to do
too much.” While the preseason has been a time where Olivier
has tried to solve some of the question marks on her team, there
are some things the coach will never have to worry about, like the
play of Quinn. The sophomore, who led all scorers with 22 points on
9-for-10 shooting, pulled down eight rebounds and had five steals.
Quinn understands this year will be different from her Pac-10
Freshman of the Year campaign. “Teams now know my
name,” Quinn said. “They probably know what to do
against me. But the thing is that we have Nikki, Lisa and Amanda.
We have a lot of options that will keep the defense guessing.
It’s going to be hard to just focus in on just one
player.”
BLUE STILL SIDELINED: Still hampered by a right
ankle sprain, Blue sat out the exhibition game and did not dress
for practice all last week. Blue is expected to begin practicing
early this week in preparation for the team’s season opener
against Texas Christian. “We like life with Nikki. We
don’t want to think about life without Nikki,” Olivier
said. “We’re working on (her ankle) night and day and
we’re hoping to get her back by Friday.”