UCLA Women’s Basketball Worn Down By Oregon State; Face #5 Oregon Next

This afternoon, the UCLA women’s basketball team welcomes the #5 Oregon Ducks to Pauley Pavilion in a Pac-12 matchup.

Last Time Out

For most of the games which the Bruins have lost this season, it was one bad quarter which ended up costing them the game. Friday night, things were different, but the results weren’t any better.

The Bruins fought Oregon State tooth and nail, but they just couldn’t pull out a win. In the first quarter, the game was close. In fact, it was close for most of the game, at least, until the fourth quarter. The Bruins took the initial lead on a three-pointer by Lajahna Drummer to start the scoring. Unfortunately, that was the biggest lead of the game for UCLA. It was also the most that either team would lead by during the first quarter. In fact, five of the game’s seven lead changes that occurred in the game occurred in the first quarter. After the first ten minutes of play, the Beavers held a 13-11 edge.

The game stayed close in the second quarter, just not as close as it was in the first. Oregon State built their biggest lead of the game so far, but, at just eight points, it was still in single digits. UCLA even managed to re-take the lead by a point at the 6:22 mark. Unfortunately, it would end up being the Bruins’ last lead of the game. By the end of this quarter, the Beavers had upped their lead to six points, but it was still a competitive game.

The third quarter looked a lot like the first two. Oregon State was still unable to push the lead into double-digits, but UCLA wasn’t able to regain the lead either. After three, the Beavs had a 59-52 lead.

UCLA finally seemed to run out of steam in the final quarter. The Bruins were able to cut the Beavers’ lead to just three twice in the quarter, but they couldn’t get any closer. Still, it wasn’t until there was 5:47 to go in the game that Oregon State pushed the lead into double-digits. That seemed to be the dagger in the heart for the Bruins. The closest UCLA would get in the remainder of the game was eight points down as the Bruins fell to the Beavers by 10, 83-73.

#5 Oregon Ducks

Last year, UCLA and Oregon played several epic women’s basketball games. While the Bruins have struggled so far this year, the Ducks seem to have gotten even better as Oregon is 14-1 so far this season. Their lone loss came on the road against #23 Michigan State.

On one hand, that might seem to indicate a chink in the Ducks’ road armor, but, when you considered how badly Oregon has been blowing out other Pac-12 schools, it seems unlikely that UCLA will be able to pull off the upset.

Outlook

So far in Pac-12 play, the Ducks have beaten Washington by 13 points and both Washington State and Southern Cal by 40 points each. In other words, Oregon is at the top of their game.

I think this afternoon’s game will be a relatively easy one for the Ducks. Oregon, 89-74.

This is your UCLA women’s basketball vs. Oregon open thread.


Go Bruins!!!