Londynn Jones escaped with the ball on a quick break. Down eight factors within the first quarter, all of the shifty guard needed to do was rating a layup to maintain USC at bay amid a JuJu Watkins scoring run. Barreling her means into the paint with an excessive amount of drive, Jones tumbled to the ground, drawing a charging foul.
The play would come to symbolize a irritating begin for UCLA, which gave up 24 factors within the first quarter — tying for probably the most allowed by the Bruins in 1 / 4 this season. It was starting to appear like an early catastrophe for coach Cori Shut and the Bruins in entrance of a sold-out crowd of 10,528 on the Galen Middle. It additionally was wanting like it might be a catastrophe for UCLA’s greatest in-the-Massive Ten perimeter protection as Watkins scorched the often ball-hawking Bruins guards for six first-half three-pointers.
However that was simply the primary quarter. The Bruins went on a 14-1 run and trailed solely by three factors by halftime. The UCLA scoring surge continued within the third quarter, with Lauren Betts scoring 9 of her 18 factors within the quarter because the Bruins capitalized on a 34-15 run after a 14-point deficit within the first half to take a seven-point lead.
“I really loved our response in the first half,” Shut mentioned, “to come back and then to really take control of the game in the third [quarter].”
Shut wanted extra of that Bruins magic — the identical that helped them keep undefeated and earn their No. 1 rating — to shut Thursday’s recreation. As a substitute, she watched as late-game lapses doomed UCLA to a 71-60 loss. It was the Bruins’ first loss, one which threatens their prime rating.
Lapses from the Bruins (23-1, 11-1 Massive Ten) on protection: giving up 24 factors within the first and fourth quarters whereas making simply two of their closing 19 pictures.
“Ultimately I got to take responsibility,” Shut mentioned. “I got to get us ready for that, and that would be my job to get us extremely fatigued in practice.”
UCLA’s main scorer struggled in crunch time: Betts missed all three of her fourth-quarter pictures — two of which Watkins swatted away on her approach to a career-high eight blocks.
“I gotta be better, period,” mentioned Betts, who completed 5 of 13 from the sphere, grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and performed a team-high 37 minutes.
USC’s recreation plan labored on Betts. The Trojans (22-2, 12-1) locked up the 6-foot-7, Naismith Faculty Participant of the Yr candidate within the inside and combined and matched bigs — Clarice Akunwafo, Rayah Marshall and Kiki Iriafen — on protection to muck up Betts’ rhythm within the paint. It labored within the first half. Betts had simply 9 factors on the break, with 5 coming from the charity stripe.
And it labored once more within the fourth quarter, leaving UCLA hapless because it tried to get the ball inside to Betts and Janiah Barker earlier than Barker fouled out with 2:07 remaining.
“It’s just a clinic in post-defense,” mentioned USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb, emphasizing Akunwafo’s contributions. “We talked about not letting Betts get to her spots.”
UCLA additionally struggled with turnovers. The Trojans scored 21 factors off Bruins turnovers.
USC’s JuJu Watkins, heart, battles UCLA’s Londynn Jones, left, and Janiah Barker for a unfastened ball within the first half Thursday at Galen Middle.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Instances)
A serious turning level got here with beneath 4 minutes left when USC freshman guard Kennedy Smith clapped in Kiki Rice’s face as she crossed half-court, elevating the group noise exponentially in Galen Middle. Moments later, Akunwafo’s strip-steal led to an Iriafen layup, serving to push the Trojans’ result in 5.
“We didn’t take care of the ball,” mentioned Rice, who completed with 15 factors. “They scored a lot off of our turnovers, which we need to clean up. I think the biggest thing is the fourth quarter and how we let them dominate us.”
Shut took pleasure in that the schedule doesn’t get simpler for the Bruins. UCLA faces No. 22 Michigan State at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday and Illinois on Feb. 20 earlier than heading off for a two-game Massive Ten journey.
“What these losses painfully teach us is where we have laxed and where we got our butts beat,” Shut mentioned.
“There’s no time to be in the pity pond.”
