After this game, even the band was tired. As the voices of the fans grew hoarse from yelling, a victorious UCLA women’s basketball team trudged off the court, bathed in both victory and exhaustion.
Facing an up-tempo, quick-shooting Oregon (12-8, 3-5 Pac-10) team, UCLA countered with some run-and-gun of its own. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Bruins (13-6, 6-2) had ratcheted up a 104-80 victory. It was the team’s highest point total since scoring the same number against Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 3, 2009.
“It was fun when we decided to really buckle down and play defense,” UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell said. “We’ll just get after you.”
The offensive numbers were staggering: 104 points, an astounding 81 shots, 51 percent shooting, and perhaps the most promising stat of all, UCLA shot 18-23 from the free throw line. Demolishing the Ducks defense became a true team effort, with the Bruins dishing out assists left and right, eight of them by freshman forward Markel Walker alone, converting open layups, breaking the press and finding open shooters. Caldwell consistently went back to one of UCLA’s most successful plays: a long inbounds pass off a made basket, which the Bruins continued to convert.
“Anytime you have someone on the ball and no interceptor, you’re going to get that good look,” Caldwell said. “Our inbounders did a good job of seeing our guards shooting long.”
However, it took a substantially improved second half effort from the defense to keep the visitors at bay. The Bruins did their best to force the Ducks into a halfcourt offense, matching their speed and screens with a more physical approach.
“In the second half, we were more tough and didn’t allow them to the basket,” Caldwell said.
Despite the team-first approach, impressive individual efforts were not lacking. Freshman point guard Mariah Williams played her best game of the season so far, racking up 15 points and playing with the kind of hard-nosed tenacity that has become her trademark. After facing a tough love approach in practice early in the year, Williams has begun to come into her own, and the new level of confidence showed on Thursday night.
“I started the last few games, and I’m starting to feel like I’m actually playing the way I came here to play,” Williams said. “I was taking (my coach’s) words to heart, because I’m hard on myself, too. Now I can hear the tone, not the words.”
Walker rebounded from a recent slump. Inserted into the starting lineup, Walker’s versatility helped her shred the Ducks’ defense early with a series of crisp passes, drives to the hoop, steals and tough rebounds. It was the kind of effort that Walker was looking for to shake off the rust.
“I’ve been down on myself, because I knew I had a couple of bad games and needed to help the team,” she said. “It helped me to get more confidence to play better.”
The Bruins host Oregon State Saturday at 2 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.