This post was updated Nov. 5 at 9:51 p.m.
Holding your opponent under double-digit points for a quarter is difficult.
But to hold them scoreless? That’s even harder.
And the Bruins did just that in the fourth quarter.
No. 11 UCLA women’s basketball (2-0) took down UC Irvine (0-1) 78-42 Thursday evening at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins jumped out to an early 13-2 run through the first five minutes of the game and never looked back.
In the opening minutes of the game, UCLA came out firing on all cylinders – diving for loose balls, playing in transition and making the passion plays coach Cori Close emphasizes.
Junior guard Elina Aarnisalo got in on the scoring early, knocking down the first 3-pointer of the night – part of her nine first-half points. Fifth-year guard KK Bransford made her impact outside of scoring, recording two steals in the opening four minutes of the game. After the Bruins took an 11-point lead, visiting coach Tamara Inoue was forced to call a timeout.
“I try to start defensively, letting my defense fuel my offense,” Bransford said. “I know that I have the help, and my teammates are behind my back talking, communicating with me, so giving me all that confidence and pressure to get up. I start the defense with being up top, so being able to give that confidence to my other teammates and definitely starting off the game is of big importance.”
In UCLA’s win over Lehigh on Monday, the two sides were tied after the first frame. But Close’s squad was not going to let that happen again.
After the timeout, freshman guard Somto Okafor got on the scoresheet, fighting her way between two Anteater defenders for a layup – one of her two through the frame. The Barcelona local recorded her first official collegiate points in Monday night’s matchup, where she knocked down a shot from deep to end the game with three points.
Backed by Aarnisalo and Okafor’s five points each, the Bruins entered the second quarter with a 15-point lead. And that was before fifth-year forward Timea Gardiner started to hit her stride.
Gardiner, who had just six points against the Mountain Hawks, opened the frame with a second-chance bucket before draining two straight shots from behind the arc. She recorded a block on Anteater guard Makiah Asidanya a minute later, helping the Bruins maintain a 21-point lead, which they carried into halftime.
“She (Gardiner) was out over I think 300 days, and she’s been back for about one month,” Close said. “What she’s been able to do in that period of time is remarkable. I think she’s just scratching the surface. She’s going to get better and better and better as her confidence grows, as her game experience gets back.”
And the third quarter did not look to be any different, with UCLA opening the first five minutes of the frame with a 15-4 run.
Bransford, who ended the night with 10 points and four steals, was unable to finish the 3-point play off her and-1, but a rebound and kick out from senior guard Donovyn Hunter to Aarnisalo gave UCLA three points the classic way. Hunter, who posted 14 points against Lehigh, scored six points on Thursday to go along with five rebounds and five assists.
Sophomore guard Bonnie Deas added in another make from behind the arc, her first donning the blue and gold. UCLA finished the night with six 3-points on 24 attempts compared to Irvine’s 3-for-22 clip.
But the Anteaters were not rolling over.
An 8-0 Irvine run toward the end of the third quarter – aided by two layups from point guard Delaney White – forced Close to burn her first timeout of the game. Two Bransford free throws put an end to the run, before sophomore forward Sienna Betts – who finished the night with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field and four rebounds – picked up her fourth foul in the final minute of the third quarter.
“This is the first time I’ve had this kind of role in college, so it feels like a different kind of pressure,” Betts said. “I’m just trying to learn how to be patient with myself and … I can be able to perform how I want.”
Guard Ahrray Young ended the frame with an exclamation point for Irvine, knocking down an and-1 from behind the arc. Despite finishing the four-point play, the Bruins still finished the frame with a 64-42 lead.
Four Westwood players reached double-digits through the game, and the squad recorded 11 total steals, supported by Bransford and Okafor’s combined seven. UCLA also dominated on the glass – out-rebounding the visitors 50 to 34 – with senior forward Addy Brown leading the way with eight while Deas had seven in addition to one block.
After the Bruins missed two layups, they found their rhythm with a 14-0 run through the entirety of the fourth quarter, giving the home squad a 78-42 victory. The Bruins held the Anteaters to a 23.7% mark from the field, while knocking down their own shots at a 45.6% clip.
The squad next plays on Nov. 12 against Arizona at Pauley Pavilion.
“We’re still not a confident group yet, and I think you have to earn it,” Close said. “I can’t give it to them. They have to earn it by conquering hard things and developing new habits, and there’s no shortcut to that.”
