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UCLA wanted to rewrite history and finally win a game at Berkeley after failing to do so the past five games. It will have to wait another season after the Bruins fell to the Bears 77-80.
The game started badly for the Bruins. They were shut out for almost six minutes in the first quarter and, by the first timeout, they were down 16-0. They were able to get some points on the board to end the quarter, but UC Berkeley still led 20-6 after one. Things got better in the second quarter, but they still trailed by double digits the entire quarter and went into the locker room down 37-24.
In the first half alone, the Bruins only shot 21.9% from the field. It was made worse by the fact that UCLA was 0-9 from behind the three-point line. Yes, you read that correctly. After Sunday’s home game where they hit 9 threes, the Bruins couldn’t make a single three-pointer in the first half.
After the break, UCLA came out strong. They started the second half with a 16-2 run that gave them a one-point lead. UC Berkeley came back with a 6-0 run of their own to take back the lead and go up by 5. The Bruins came back to cut the lead to one twice and it was 47-46 Golden Bears with about 2:30 to go. UC Berkeley would finish off the quarter with an 8-2 run and UCLA was down 55-48 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter started with the Bears pushing their lead to 12 giving them a 73-61 lead with four minutes to play. Kari Korver’s second three-pointer of the quarter would start a 14-4 run for UCLA that cut the UC Berkeley lead to 2, 77-75, with less than a minute to go. But they just couldn’t get the stop they needed on defense as Kristine Anigwe’s layup went in and became a three-point play due to a foul by Korver.
Jordin Canada’s three-pointer with 11 seconds left was no good, but Nicole Kornet got the rebound and a foul sending her to the line. Kornet hit both free throws to make it 80-77.
Monique Billings’ foul with 7 seconds left sent Anigwe to the line where she missed both free throws. That gave the Bruins one last chance to tie the game but it wasn’t to be as Jordin Canada’s last-second three was no good.