With 17:05 remaining in the second half, UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell called timeout.
Her Bruins had just stumbled out of the halftime gate, trailing 62-50 as two Taylor Lilley three-pointers highlighted a 12-4 Duck run. The McArthur Court crowd of 2,892 was in full support of its home team.
“We went to our front-and-back defense and tried to slow up their transition game, because they’re so explosive in the open court,” Caldwell said. “I thought in the second half, we did a much better job of (containing them).”
“We didn’t play UCLA basketball,” Jasmine Dixon said.
Dixon, a 5-foot-11-inch forward, had 15 points and nine rebounds by halftime but turned up the intensity of her performance in the second half, bothering Oregon to no end in the low post while attacking the glass at the offensive end. If Dixon didn’t catch the rebound, her ability to box out allowed a teammate a better shot at it. UCLA went on a 23-2 run to turn the tide of the game, eventually winning 91-75.
“In that spell, I think we changed defenses like four times … we ran four different defenses and it didn’t look like we had changed anything,” Oregon head coach Paul Westhead said. “It was bang, bang, bang, bang, so we were trying to help the cause … we had no impact.”
Dixon finished with 20 of the Bruins’ 50 rebounds — 12 offensive — and 31 points. The Ducks, as a team, grabbed 23 rebounds, eight offensive.
“I just told her, I said, when you bring that type of intensity and you’re over on the offensive glass, (Markel) Walker’s going to follow your lead, then we’ll get our guard play in there,” Caldwell said.
“My offensive game was going pretty good, but my defensive game was sloppy,” Dixon said. “I had to pick it up.”
The leading scorer for the Bruins, Dixon is slowly making a name for herself. She originally committed to Rutgers out of Long Beach Poly (Calif.) High School but transferred after just one season. Ineligible for the first seven games of the season, Dixon also leads UCLA in rebounding (7.9 per game) and field goal percentage (56.4 percent) and is second in steals with 48.
Her career game — the second 30-20 performance against the Ducks this season, after Stanford’s Nnemkadi Ogwumike — vaulted the Bruins into second place (20-7, 13-3 Pacific-10 Conference) and in firm control of their own destiny. All by stepping up when it mattered most for her team.
“It’s a matter of when they make that choice,” Caldwell said. “I told them you have a choice. You can continue to play poorly, or you can get better. To me, you’ve got a 50-50 shot there. Get better.”
Senior Day honorees

Saturday marked the last regular-season home appearance for Lilley, Micaela Cocks and Lindsey Saffold, who were honored before the game. Oregon also recognized UCLA seniors Moniquee Alexander, Erica Tukiainen and Allison Taka with bouquets from Westhead.
Cocks commented postgame about trying to remove the emotion of Senior Day from her head as the game drew close, but finding it hard to accomplish.
“The juniors, the sophomores, the freshmen, they decorated our lockers and had photos on our locker doors,” Cocks said. “It was a weird feeling. It was exciting.”
Former Oregon player and head coach Bev Smith was also welcomed back to Mac Court as an honorary captain with a loud standing ovation from the crowd. Smith, a two-time All-American who coached the Ducks for eight seasons before her dismissal after last season, received hugs from every player and member of the coaching staff prior to the announcement of starting lineups.
“Very well-deserved,” Lilley said of the ovation.
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