UCLA Women's Basketball Holds On to Defeat Crosstown Rival USC
With two seconds on the clock, the Trojans had an opportunity to tie up the game and send things to overtime.
Guards Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice trapped guard Alyson Miura in the corner as she tried to pass out for one final shot. Guard Gina Conti snatched the ball out of the air, dribbled down the clock and secured the Bruins' 59-56 victory – their seventh straight against their crosstown rivals.
No. 10 UCLA women’s basketball (10-1, 1-0 Pac-12) opened conference action with a back-and-forth battle against USC (9-1, 0-1 Pac-12) on Thursday night, relying on clutch shots and a career-high scoring performance from forward Emily Bessoir to defeat the previously unbeaten Trojans. The German post – who missed the 2021-22 campaign with a torn ACL – scored 16 points, shooting 7-for-13 from the field and 2-for-5 from beyond the arc.
Bessoir scored a layup with 2:51 on the clock to extend the blue and gold’s fourth-quarter lead to five points. A minute later, guard Camryn Brown lost her defender came free under the basket for her only points of the game to give UCLA a 59-54 lead they would hold onto for the rest of the night.
Even though the Bruins' scoring attack featured contributions from unlikely candidates, Osborne and Rice did the majority of the offensive work at the Galen Center. The backcourt duo combined for 28 points, only managing to hit 12 of their 42 attempts.
UCLA had their second-highest offensive rebounding total of the season, collecting 20 boards and capitalizing on the extra scoring chances, scoring 23 points off of second-chance situations.
Osborne matched her season-high in rebounds with 13, while reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Week forward Christeen Iwuala was tied for second on the team with seven boards in just 15 minutes of action.
The Trojans failed to replicate the Bruins’ paint presence, only recording nine offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points to their opponents' 20 and 23.
USC did, however, keep the game close despite being down 11 points at halftime. The cardinal and gold surged back, holding UCLA to just 20 points in the second half and getting the deficit down to as little as one point in the fourth quarter.
That comeback fell short, however, and the Trojans once again failed to slay their crosstown foe.
The Bruins now move back into nonconference play for the final time this season before the rest of Pac-12 action gets underway. UCLA will host Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday before facing off against Fresno State on Tuesday.
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