UCLA Women's Basketball Holds Off Cal, Gets Back Into Win Column

After a slow start and a tight fourth quarter, the Bruins turned on the jets and left the unranked Golden Bears in the dust.

No. 8 UCLA women's basketball (15-3, 4-2 Pac-12) ended its homestand with a 87-70 win over California (10-7, 1-5) on Sunday afternoon. The Bruins trailed by as many as 11 points in the first quarter and struggled to pull away even once they did even things up again.

A decisive 16-2 run over a five-minute span in the fourth quarter helped UCLA ice the win, though, and they avoided losing three of four in the process.

Cal had compete control early on, staging a 10-0 run and then hitting a 3-pointer to go up 15-4, starting the game 8-for-9 from the field while UCLA went 2-for-8. Even once the Bruins started getting shots to fall, the Golden Bears stayed up by at least nine points for the rest of the first frame.

UCLA opened the second quarter on a 13-0 run – sparked by 3-pointers from forward Emily Bessoir and guard Charisma Osborne – and all of a sudden, they were up by four. There were three more lead changes before the end of the quarter, including one on a Cal 3-pointer with 35 seconds left that put them up 38-36 at the break.

The Bruins trailed for virtually the entire third quarter, although their 3-point shooting kept the Golden Bears from pulling away. Guards Gina Conti hit one from beyond the arc, and then Londynn Jones drilled three more before the end of the frame.

Starting with Jones' last triple of the third, UCLA hit 13 of its final 18 shots. The Bruins went 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter as well, helping them post a 29-13 advantage in the final frame.

UCLA was up one point with seven minutes left and five points with four minutes left, and they continued to pull away once Jones and Osborne drilled a couple more 3-pointers. Those helped the Bruins go ahead by 15, and they built that lead to 17 before the final buzzer.

Jones and Osborne combined for 35 points, while guard Kiki Rice dropped 15 and Conti added 11. Rice led the way with 12 assists, eight rebounds and a plus-25 plus/minus.

Nine of the 10 UCLA players who checked into the game scored at least four points, and nine recorded a rebound. The Bruins won the battle on the boards 36-24, and they finished with 22 assists compared to the Golden Bears' 13.

UCLA opens up a four-game road trip Friday at Washington. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. in Seattle and will be televised on Pac-12 Los Angeles.

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