This post was updated Nov. 30 at 4:53 p.m.
Sunday was a shootout on the West Coast.
On one side was senior guard Gabriela Jaquez – the four-year Bruin who came to Westwood as the younger sister of Jaime Jaquez Jr. before carving out a name for herself.
On the other was forward Janiah Barker – the former Bruin and Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year who left Westwood after a single season as a bench player under coach Cori Close, despite starting 27-of-30 at Texas A&M the year prior.
Jaquez sank her first four shots from beyond the arc.
Three of Barker’s first five 3-point shots found the net.
And they weren’t alone.
No. 3 UCLA women’s basketball (8-1) fired off 17 shots from deep. No. 14 Tennessee (5-2) spun 30 out its barrel.
But a marksman’s ability to hit their target almost always supersedes their ability to get off a quick shot.
When the dust settled, Jaquez and the Bruins were the ones left standing, outdueling their opponent 99-77 at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday afternoon to sink 58.8% of their 3-pointers to the Lady Vols’ 36.7%.
“Gabs (Jaquez) always shows up,” Close said. “She’s very comfortable in the pressure. She knows how to play with poise and calm and knows exactly what the team needs from her in those moments. … I would never put a ceiling on Gabs because she just keeps getting better and better and finding new ways to make winning plays.”
Jaquez finished Sunday with a career second-best 29 points on 10-for-14 shooting from the field, making a career-most five of her six shots from beyond the arc – culminating in her first back-to-back 20-plus point showings after scoring 21 against Duke on Thursday.
“Over the summer, something just clicked in my head,” Jaquez said. “Where I want my shooting pocket to be and how I like it to feel – and I think that’s the difference right there.”
Barker put on a show, too – firing 12 of her team’s first 40 shots – but the former Bruin may have proved too reckless, earning her third foul with 6:06 left to play in the third. The Marietta, Georgia, local ultimately finished with 14 points but just three came in the contest’s final three quarters.
Graduate student guard Gianna Kneepkens got in on the action herself in the second half. The esteemed long-range gunslinging transfer from Utah sank three of her four 3-point shots in the third quarter, ultimately finishing with 19 points. Graduate student guard Angela Dugalić joined her teammate in double figures, amassing 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting.
Completing her first double-double since Jan. 23, senior guard Kiki Rice finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds – tying and setting her season best, respectively.
“Definitely been trying to rebound more this year,” Rice said. “I had surgery on my shoulder in the offseason, so I feel more comfortable rebounding.”
Meanwhile, the Lady Vols might as well have been shooting blanks for large parts of the affair. Tennessee made just 7-for-25 shots across the last five minutes of the second quarter and the entirety of the third quarter – entering the final frame down 20.
Lauren Betts returned to the floor Sunday after missing Thursday’s action with an elbow injury. However, the senior center’s production seemed dampened, recording a season-low seven points alongside four rebounds and three assists.
However, Close said Betts’ boxscore production is more a result of opponents’ gameplanning – both a credit to the center’s ability and a decision the Bruins can exploit.
“The way she’s able to switch and guard, the way she alters shots, the way she rebounds, the way she sets screens for some of those players, especially Kiki. … They (The Bruins’ opponents) don’t want to leave off of her, so other people benefit,” Close said. “She sort of had to be the sacrificial lamb in some ways … to get some of those other people going.”
In other injury news, the medical staff tended to Christina Karamouzi – who averages 2.3 minutes a game – after the freshman guard slumped to the floor with under a minute left Sunday. Karamouzi was ultimately able to walk off under her own power.
Despite six lead changes in the first quarter, there’d be none after the 5:22 mark in the second. The Bruins amassed a game-best 23-point lead with 35 seconds remaining in the third quarter and regained a 20-plus point lead with just under three minutes left in the fourth.
Fittingly, Ann Meyers-Drysdale was in attendance for the program’s Alumni Reunion Game as UCLA – which has bounced back with two wins after Wednesday’s loss to No. 4 Texas and now has won three of its first four ranked contests – continues what could be remembered as the program’s most dominant multi-year stretch since a Meyers-Drysdale-led team punctuated three-straight postseason appearances with the 1978 AIAW title.
“We see ourselves as that Final Four team,” Close said. “Are we playing at that level consistently yet? Not yet, but I do think we see ourselves as a national championship contender, and we got to go earn that.”
Despite a crowd of 5,639 and an attempted White Out, the Bruin faithful – even if limited due to Sunday’s sandwiching between Thanksgiving and the beginning of fall quarter’s week 10 – had plenty to cheer about.
As has become tradition this season, senior forward/guard Megan Grant took the court with about a minute remaining, serving as UCLA’s victory lap.
