UCLA Women's Basketball Never Trails in Win Over Cal State Fullerton

An all-around dominant effort Saturday night helped the Bruins improve to 4-0 at Pauley Pavilion this season.

No. 13 UCLA women's basketball (8-1) took care of business against Cal State Fullerton (4-3), running away with a 64-41 victory on their home floor. The Bruins were in cruise control for much of the night, using defense to create plenty of separation early on.

At halftime, the Titans had 12 points compared to 10 turnovers. They opened the night on a 1-for-11 shooting stretch, then followed that up with an identical 1-for-11 cold streak in the second.

Meanwhile, UCLA tipped things off with a 12-2 run. Cal State Fullerton chipped away at the lead towards the end of the first quarter and into the second to make it a six-point contest, but guard Kiki Rice went on a 6-0 run all by herself to build the gap back to 12.

The Bruins led by double figures for the rest of the game, maxing it out at 25 in the third quarter after forward Gabriela Jaquez drilled a 3-pointer and Rice hit a layup in the final 40 seconds of the frame.

Rice led UCLA with 14 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Guard Charisma Osborne put up 13 points of her own, going 4-for-9 from the field with a pair of triples.

Forward Christeen Iwuala recorded her first ever double-digit scoring performance at the college level, finishing with a career-high 10 points. Six of those points came in the fourth quarter, responding to a 10-0 Cal State Fullerton run that opened the final frame.

While nine of the Titans' 15 points in the final quarter came from the free throw line, the Bruins got seven free throws to fall in the fourth. UCLA then managed to keep its opponent at bay with a couple of late buckets by Iwuala and an and-1 by guard Londynn Jones.

The backcourt trio of Jones and Jaquez and Gina Conti combined to shoot 2-for-25 from the field and 1-for-12 from 3-point range. Every other Bruin combined to shoot 61.1% from the field.

The Titans, on the other hand, ended the night shooting 24.0% from the field and 13.3% from deep. Their 15-for-17 mark at the free throw line helped them make the final score look closer than it was, with guard Una Jovanovic doing most of the heavy lifting by going 9-for-11.

Even in the winning effort, UCLA gave the ball away 27 times, and it was outscored 25-14 off turnovers. That marked the Bruins' most turnovers in a single game in the past eight seasons, just narrowly surpassing the 26 turnovers in their win Sacramento State on Dec. 18, 2015.

UCLA will return to action for its first Pac-12 contest of the year on Thursday – a road game at USC. That crosstown rivalry showdown will tip off at 7 p.m. and it will be broadcast on Pac-12 Los Angeles.

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