Reinforced UCLA Women's Basketball Defeats Washington in Seattle

For the first time all season, the Bruins had a 10-player rotation at their disposal and it led to a road Pac-12 win.

The Bruins' list of injuries finally got shortened enough to the point where they were actually deeper than the Huskies on Sunday afternoon.

And with that added depth, the blue and gold were able to escape with a road win over the weekend.

UCLA women's basketball (11-8, 6-6 Pac-12) defeated last-place Washington (5-13, 0-10) by a score of 69-61 on Sunday in Seattle, countering their opponent's 3-point barrage with a star performance and a collection of fresh legs off the bench. That star performance came from guard Charisma Osborne, who put up 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting from deep.

Those five 3s at that high efficiency marked Osborne's best outing from beyond the arc since the start of Pac-12 play, but the Huskies actually bested it on the other end. 11 of Washington's 23 field goals – nearly half – came from long range, and they did so by shooting well over 50% from deep.

The high-powered rush of triples was maybe the only thing that went right for the Huskies on offense, though, as the Bruins held them to 44.4% shooting on 2s, 40% from the free throw line and just five fast break points. UCLA, on the other hand, picked up 23 points off of Washington's 17 turnovers, creating a big enough gap in that category alone to seal the win.

Three 3-pointers by the Huskies set them up with a lead early on, going up 16-10 with a few minutes left in the opening quarter. 10 Bruins played in that first quarter, more than had played in any game all year. Guard Jaelynn Penn returned after a few weeks off the court, just two days after forward Angela Dugalic made her season debut and a few games after guard Camryn Brown made hers.

Coach Cori Close's new-look rotation got things going in the final moments of the opening frame, picking up a few points before turning it into a 13-0 run once the second quarter got underway. Osborne got things going from deep, guard Chantel Horvat kept getting to the line and guard Natalie Chou chipped in some points as well.

Five 3-pointers from Washington over the next five minutes erased UCLA's seven-point led and helped put the Huskies back ahead 37-32 at the half and 39-32 one possession into the third. Osborne then hit two more 3s to bookend a go-ahead 12-0 run, with forward IImar'I Thomas also hitting a 3-ball and Horvat scoring three the old-fashioned way with an and-1.

The Bruins chased the Huskies off the 3-point line on the other end of the floor, only allowing them to attempt three triples in the third after watching them jack up seven in the second. Without a flood of 3-pointers to help them build back momentum, Washington was unable to take a lead for the rest of the day.

Dugalic got her first points of the season off a couple layups in that third quarter, then it was Thomas who singlehandedly led a 7-2 run to start off the fourth. By the time the final buzzer sounded, nine of the 10 players who took the court for UCLA hit a field goal, with Dugalic, Penn, guard Dominique Onu and forward Izzy Anstey combining for 14 points off the bench.

Horvat also broke into double figures for the fourth time in six games, putting up a season-high 13 points, and the Bruins' 69 points were their most since Jan. 16.

A return to form for the now-slightly-less-depleted UCLA marks an end to the team's 1-5 stretch, setting them up for a chance at redemption in Wednesday's rescheduled road game at Oregon. The Bruins were forced to forfeit that game at the end of January because injuries prevented them from hitting the seven-player minimum, but the Ducks are back on the slate to play them with the numbers now approaching normal again.

Guards Gina Conti and Kiara Jefferson are still dinged up, but just being above the minimum will be a win for UCLA when they get a real shot to take on Oregon in Eugene.

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