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Five Bruins in Double Figures as UCLA Defeats Cougars, 73-66

by uclabruins.com
Jan 22, 2023

Pullman, Wash. – UCLA Women's Basketball improved to 17-3 (6-2) after completing the weekend sweep in the Evergreen State. The Bruins downed Washington State on Sunday, Jan. 22, inside Beasley Coliseum behind an all-around scoring effort.
 
Five UCLA players scored in double figures in the win: Emily Bessoir (13), Gabriela Jaquez (13), Gina Conti (12), Kiki Rice (12) and Charisma Osborne (10). Lina Sontag added seven points to go along with her four rebounds.
 
The Bruins outrebounded their conference foes 37-31 in the victory, grabbing 12 offensive boards to Washington State's nine. UCLA assisted on 14 of its 26 made baskets on Sunday, and it surpassed .400 field goal shooting for just the second time in conference play (26-61 FG, .426).
 
"Against an elite defensive team like Washington State, those [runs] are really big because they're not easy to come by," the Michael Price Family UCLA Head Women's Basketball Coach Cori Close said of her team's 9-0 and 7-0 runs in the game. "We have so much respect for their execution on both ends of the floor. We've had struggles with that, […] we're making steps in the right direction."
 
UCLA opened up the game on a 9-2 run, allowing the Cougars just a pair of free throws in the first four and a half minutes of the game. Conti had seven points before the first media timeout; the graduate student converted a layup, a three-pointer off a pass from Londynn Jones and a midrange jumper. The Bruins led 20-12 after the first horn after Sontag banked in a three pointer from the top of the arc as time expired.
 

 
The Bruins' offense slowed in the second quarter as the team shot 5-for-18 from the field. Jaquez was the lone UCLA student-athlete with more than one made basket as the freshman scored six of the team's 12 points in the quarter. Osborne followed up her half-court buzzer beater from Friday with another last-second bucket; the shooting guard dropped in a layup as time expired going into the half. The Bruins led 32-30.

 
As the Bruins are known to do, UCLA had its best scoring period in third quarter to open up its lead over the Cougars. Bessoir, Rice and Osborne had six apiece, and Jaquez added five in the quarter. The quartet combined for 8-of-10 shooting in the third, sinking five triples in the quarter. Both Bessoir and Osborne knocked down consecutive three-pointers to help the Bruins claim a 57-50 heading into the fourth.
 

 
Sontag scored UCLA's first two buckets in the fourth quarter, both in the paint. The Bruins' lead extended to 11 twice in the final period before Washington State made a run in the middle of the quarter. UCLA led by as little as three points with 2:51 left to go, but Rice and Osborne would not go down without a fight.
 
The freshman point guard bullied her way to the bucket with two minutes remaining; Washington State's Bella Murekatete found her way to the rim shortly after to make it a three-point game again. Both teams had turnover trouble as the game got tight and time ran off the clock, and neither team would get a shot attempt off until late in the final frame.
 
Osborne knocked down a pair of shots from the charity stripe with 19 seconds left on the clock to make it a two-possession game (71-66). The Cougars attempted a three-point shot that found only rim and Rice corralled the rebound before the Bruins called a timeout. Conti inbounded the ball to Rice who was fouled and, with ice in her veins, the freshman knocked down both bonus free throw attempts to seal the win.
 
UCLA did not trail in the second half, claiming a 73-66 victory in Pullman.
 
UP NEXT: at No. 24/RV Colorado (Jan. 27)
 
The Bruins fly to Boulder, Colo., for their second-consecutive road trip in conference play to face No. 24/RV Colorado on Friday, Jan. 27, at 6 p.m. PST. UCLA will face No. 8/8 Utah on Sunday after the matchup with the Buffs.

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