The Bruins head into today’s game after winning their fifth game in a row on Friday night. It was a much tighter game than it probably should have been. Washington fought hard through the first three quarters and led the Bruins by as many as 7 points midway through the third quarter.

That’s more of a reflection of how hard Washington was playing rather than a reflection of the Bruins performance, at least in the first and third quarter. UCLA led by as many as four points and 27-24 after the first quarter.

The second quarter belonged to Washington as they outscored the Bruins 13-7 in the quarter to take a 37-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Huskies came out of the locker room and went on a 7-3 mini-run to start the quarter to stretch their lead to seven. Over the next three and a half minutes, UCLA started chipping away at the Huskies’ lead and a Jordin Canada layup put the Bruins back in front with four and a half minutes left in the third. But the Huskies were still battling and UCLA only led by one after three.

In fact, Washington would tie the game, 62-62, after making a free throw with 9:17 left in the game. Finally, the Bruins went on a big 19-0 run over the next four and a half minutes to put the game out of the Huskies’ reach as UCLA led 81-62 with 4:43 left. Over the rest of the game, Washington was only able to score seven more points while UCLA added five more themselves to give the Bruins an 86-69 win.

Jordin Canada led all scorers with 22 points while Japreece Dean had 17 points and Lajahna Drummer led the Bruins in rebounds with 9. Three other Bruins scored in double figures.

This afternoon, UCLA heads to the Palouse to face the Washington State Cougars. The Bruins lead the series 53-8 and have won 30 of the last 32 meetings between the teams, but the Cougars did win when the teams met in Pullman last year.

So, while UCLA shouldn’t have much difficulty today because the Cougs are tied for tenth in the Pac-12, they can’t get caught looking ahead to next week’s games against Southern Cal as today’s game has the potential to become a trap game.

This is your UCLA Bruins at Washington State Cougars women’s basketball open thread.


Go Bruins!!!