Thursday, March 28

Women’s basketball forward makes triumphant homecoming in mountain matchups


No. 7 UCLA women's basketball junior forward Michaela Onyenwere was named to the midseason top-25 list for the John R. Wooden Award, given to the most outstanding men's and women's collegiate basketball player each year. (Joy Hong/Daily Bruin senior staff)


This post was updated Jan. 14 at 12:58 p.m.

The Bruins’ leading scorer made history in her return home.

Aurora, Colorado, native and junior forward Michaela Onyenwere became the 23rd player in program history with 1000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 steals in her career. She then put up a 19-point, eight-rebound performance in No. 7 UCLA women’s basketball’s (16-0, 5-0 Pac-12) victory against Colorado on Sunday.

“To see people who have been behind me for so long to see me have a good game and see how far I have come is just really humbling,” Onyenwere said. “It is just really nice to see how hard I have worked to get to this point and just to have my family here.”

Onyenwere’s performance against the Buffaloes came with a season-high three made 3-pointers, tied for the game’s team-high with freshman guard Charisma Osborne.

She also reached double-digit scoring for the 11th time in the previous 12 contests, a stretch during which she has shot at or above 50% from the field eight times.

Coach Cori Close said she is proud of the person Onyenwere is both on and off the court.

“I just think that (Onyenwere) is such an unbelievable human being, and a great player,” Close said. “I am just so proud to be her coach because of the woman she is, not just the player she is. So anytime we can bring her home and have it be a good time we want to do that.”

Onyenwere – who was named to the preseason watchlist for the John R. Wooden Award Women’s Player of the Year – was honored again as a member of the midseason watchlist Wednesday. Averaging 18.9 points per game, she is currently 32nd in the country in scoring average, and 26th in the nation in total points scored. The 6-foot-tall forward also leads the team with 7.8 rebounds per game.

Osborne, who posted a career-high 17 points against Utah and added 13 points against Colorado, said UCLA was ready for the mountain-school doubleheader and wanted to win on Sunday for Onyenwere.

“(The team has) been preparing for (the games against Utah and Colorado) for a while, taking beet shots and all different types of things,” Osborne said. “We really wanted to get this (game against Colorado), especially for (Onyenwere) because she is from out here.”

UCLA will play its third consecutive conference road game Friday against USC. Onyenwere scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Bruins’ victory over the Trojans on Dec. 29.

Sports senior staff

Waldman is currently a Sports senior staff writer. He was previously an assistant Sports editor for the men's volleyball, women's volleyball, track and field, beach volleyball and men's soccer beats. Waldman was also a reporter on the women's basketball and beach volleyball beats. He is also a political science student at UCLA from Alameda, California.


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