UCLA Women's Basketball Dominates 4th Quarter, Beats Oregon State

The Bruins have emerged from their slump with back-to-back wins, this time coming from behind to pull one out.

No. 18 UCLA women's basketball (19-6, 8-5 Pac-12) was caught in a back-and-forth battle with Oregon State (11-13, 3-10) at Pauley Pavilion on Friday night until they pulled away for the 62-54 win. The Bruins trailed throughout virtually the entire third quarter and went down by as many as eight points in the second half.

A 12-0 run in the fourth quarter helped UCLA finally get a leg up on Oregon State, though, and the Bruins' defense held the Beavers without a field goal for the final 7:12 of the contest.

After going down 51-46, UCLA outscored its opponent 16-3 for the rest of the night.

Guard Charisma Osborne got the first two buckets of the decisive run, but it was freshman Gabriela Jaquez who came through with two fast break layups that finally gave UCLA the lead. A 3-pointer by forward Lina Sontag with 2:40 remaining capped off the run, and it was all free throws from then on out.

The Bruins set themselves up for that fourth quarter surge with a couple of late buckets in the third quarter, when forward Emily Bessoir sank a triple and Jaquez hit a buzzer-beating putback layup to chip away at the Beavers' eight-point advantage. Before Sontag got one to go midway through the third, UCLA hadn't hit a 3-pointer all night, and it finished the game just 3-for-27 from deep.

Although Oregon State shot 1.8% better from the field and 12.7% better from beyond the arc, UCLA got 12 more points in the paint and 16 more points off turnovers – including Osborne and Jaquez's three late layups.

Jaquez dropped a team-high 14 points, and she was joined in double figures by Osborne, Sontag and guard Kiki Rice. Sontag blocked two shots, came away with five assists, led the team with four assists and ranked second with six rebounds.

Only one Beaver reached double-digit points – guard Bendu Yeaney, who scored 10 on 5-for-12 shooting from the field and 0-for-3 from deep.

The combo of Jaquez and Sontag had the best plus-minuses of any players – plus-15 and plus-13, respectively.

Jaquez co-led all scorers with eight points when UCLA led 31-29 at the half, but she was minus-2 through two quarters. Her big second half – coupled with the Bruins' defense forcing the Beavers to miss their final eight shots – were ultimately the difference at Pauley Pavilion on Friday.

UCLA's next game is scheduled for Sunday against Oregon. The matchup between the Bruins and Ducks will tip off from Pauley Pavilion at 12 p.m. and will be televised on Pac-12 Oregon.

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