The UCLA women’s basketball team has never been hesitant to play top-ranked opponents. The daunting early-season stretch gives as good an indicator as any on how good the team is heading into the Pacific-10 Conference portion of the season.
UCLA’s preseason schedule was littered with top programs of the likes of Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Baylor – all three losses. The Pac-10 portion of schedule has been just as choppy with a 6-5 conference record. UCLA does have three consecutive wins heading into Thursday’s meeting with Oregon – all victories by six points or fewer.
This streak came after UCLA had lost four of five games – the lone win a home triumph over Oregon.
“The difference is that we got the Ws,” UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. To be honest, before, when we didn’t win, but we still were very close. It would come down to free throws for instance or something, so I never felt we were very far away, but again, I don’t think we’re very far away from losing either. It’s not like we’re blowing anyone out and it’s not like we’re getting blown out by anybody.”
The USC women’s basketball team (13-8, 7-4 Pac-10) are expected to welcome Hailey Dunham back from a back injury she suffered against Stanford on Dec. 20.
Oregon natives off elsewhere
There are a handful of Oregon natives in the Pac-10 who are making an impact at other schools in the Pac-10, most notably first place Stanford.
Stanford point guard JJ Hones, a freshman from Beaverton, Ore. is learning alongside a prolific scorer in Candice Wiggins.
“I’ve learned to be more aggressive because Candice is such a great player,” Hones told the Stanford Daily newspaper. “It’s a really great experience to be able to watch her play everyday in practice. I just try to see what she does and put it into my game.”
Hones guides Stanford’s potent offense – averaging 72.8 points per game – with a team-leading 4.1 assists per game.
Guard Jillian Harmon is in her second season in Stanford colors following her high school career at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego, Ore. Harmon is fourth on the team in scoring at 8.5 points per game.
What injury?
Wiggins has apparently shaken off any lingering effects of a sprained ankle she suffered against Washington earlier in the month. Anyone needing further evidence should look at Stanford’s two wins last weekend at Arizona (86-76) and Arizona State (73-65).
In the two games, Wiggins averaged 24 points, five rebounds, 4.5 assists and two steals – not too shabby. Consider also, Wiggins shot 44.1 percent from the field and 93.3 percent from the free throw line and it’s a pretty complete performance.
Arizona State (19-3, 9-2 Pac-10), leading into Pac-10 play, looked like a potential threat to Stanford for the conference title. For much of the game, it appeared Arizona State was worthy of the hype, with a late lead before Stanford tied the game and forced overtime.
Arizona State star Emily Westerberg struggled to eight points on just 1-of-7 shooting.
The televised contest on Fox Sports Net showed why Wiggins is one of the conferences top guards with 10 of her team’s 14 points in the extra session. Wiggins’ scoring flourish came without two of the Cardinal’s top post players – Brooke Smith and Jayne Appel – who both fouled out in regulation.
“I think that her weekend in Arizona, playing at Arizona, Arizona State, really was the Candice that we’ve seen and I’ve had for two years at Stanford,” coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I can’t say that we’ve really seen that to the degree that we saw this past weekend.”
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