#8 UCLA Women's Basketball Looks to Sweep Wounded Ducks
#8 UCLA Women's Basketball Looks to Sweep Wounded Ducks
The Bruins will look for a sweep of the season series with the Ducks tonight at Pauley Pavilion.
Tonight’s UCLA women’s basketball game should be a dandy. The #8 Bruins are hosting the #13 Oregon Ducks at 5 pm PT on Pac-12 Networks.
Last Time Out
Last Friday, the Bruins visited Utah and it was another relatively easy game for UCLA. Utah scored the first bucket of the game before Michaela Onyenwere tied it up. The Utes took their second and final lead of the game after they scored their next basket, but, again, Onyenwere responded. This time, she responded with a three-pointer to give the Bruins the lead for good with 6:23 to go in the first quarter. UCLA spent the rest of the first half increasing their lead. In the first, they got it as high as eight before finishing the quarter up by seven, 19-12.
In the second quarter, the Utes managed to close the gap to just one point twice, but they couldn’t tie or retake the lead. The second time came with 5:22 to go in the half went on a quick 12-0 run to go up by 13 with 2:48 left. In the time remaining, the Utes added a free throw and a jumper to narrow the score to 35-25 at the half.
The third quarter saw UCLA increase their lead to as many as 18 before finishing the period up 13, 50-37. Onyenwere scored what turned out to be the game-winning bucket with 5:06 to go and the Bruins cruised to an 11-point win, 69-58.
In addition to Onyenwere’s 25 points, three other Bruins finished in double figures. Chantal Horvat scored 14 while adding 12 rebounds to pick up the double-double. Natalie Chou had 12 points and Charisma Osborned put up 10.
UCLA’s game which was set for Sunday against Colorado was postponed due to too few scholarship players being available to go on Sunday.
Oregon Ducks
When these teams met in Eugene last month, the Bruins came away with a 73-71 win. That’s significant because the Bruins have had a really tough time against them the past few seasons. In fact, UCLA has gone 2-7 against Oregon since the 2016-17 season and they have been unable to win consecutive games against them.
Tonight, the Bruins have a chance to sweep the series. Generally, UCLA is pretty tough to beat inside the friendly confines of Pauley Pavilion. These ladies have only lost twice at home since the beginning of the 2019-20 season. Once was against Stanford earlier this season and the other was against, you guessed it, Oregon last season.
So, a win tonight against the Ducks would be a huge confidence builder for the program.
Meanwhile, the Ducks have crash-landed into Pauley, having lost their last two against ranked teams. First, they lost to Arizona at home by 20 points, 79-59. Then, they lost a close one to #6 Stanford also at home, 73-71.
Look for this one to be over by the end of the third quarter. Bruins by 8.
#8 UCLA Women’s Basketball (12-3, 10-3)
Opponent: #13 Oregon Ducks (12-5, 9-5)
When: 5:00 pm PT, Friday, February 19, 2021
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Pac-12 Networks National, Los Angeles and Oregon with Anne Marie Anderson and Maylana Martin Douglas
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Audio: UCLA Live Audio with Dave Marcus
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Official Game Preview
Go Bruins!
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