The Pacific-10 Conference’s best defense reigned supreme over the Pac-10’s — and the nation’s — best offense on Thursday night.
UCLA freshman forward Markel Walker had a career-making night — 17 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and four steals — and the Bruins outscored the Ducks 34-13 over the final 9:23 to win the game, 104-80.
Oregon, which has never swept the Los Angeles schools in a road series, fell to 12-8 overall and 3-5 in the Pac-10. UCLA bumped its conference record to 6-2 (13-6 overall), behind cross-town rival USC and defending conference champion Stanford.
“I thought we came back late in the first half to give ourselves a chance,” Oregon head coach Paul Westhead said. “We got off to a little slow start in the second half and they scored against our zone. We got it back within six or seven, and they made key shots to keep us away.”
The game nearly became a runaway from the start, after Bruins guard Jasmine Dixon sank a jump shot to put UCLA up 29-19 with 9:52 remaining. Micaela Cocks and Amanda Johnson caught fire shortly after that, combining to score the Ducks’ next 11 points. Oregon held off another short UCLA rally as the half ended to cut the deficit to 50-47 at intermission.
At the half, the Ducks shot 44.7 percent from the field to the Bruins’ 44.4 percent, but two key players would be limited. Victoria Kenyon picked up four first-half fouls and Nicole Canepa picked up three.
Oregon briefly took the lead in the second half, but UCLA held strong against the Ducks’ fast-break offense. After Johnson made a layup to bring the Ducks within three at 70-67, the Bruins scored the next 10 points.
The rout was on from there, as the Ducks got cold. In the second half, Oregon missed all 12 of its attempted three-pointers and shot just 11-31 (35.5 percent) from the field.
“I thought we had some good looks,” Westhead said of his team’s struggles from beyond the arc. “Of the 12 threes, a good number of them were in transition. We had some pretty good looks in the flow of the game; they just didn’t go down for us.”
UCLA won the turnover battle 16-19, shot 50.6 percent from the field and dominated the glass, grabbing 53 rebounds (20 offensive) to Oregon’s 32.
“That’s about 10 too many,” Westhead said regarding the offensive rebounds.
Dixon led all scorers with 20 points, complemented by six rebounds and five assists. Guard Doreena Campbell also chipped in 17 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins.
Johnson led the Ducks with 18 points and six rebounds, one of five in double-figure scoring — along with Nia Jackson (17), Taylor Lilley (16), Cocks (14) and Kenyon (11). Oregon’s only bench points (four) came from forward Jasmin Holliday, who also accumulated 10 rebounds.
USC next for Ducks
Once again, the Ducks have no time to rest on their laurels, as a hungry USC team awaits.
The Women of Troy beat Oregon State 61-34 on Thursday night to up their conference record to 7-1 (13-6 overall). First-year head coach and Los Angeles Lakers great Michael Cooper is putting a five-game winning streak on the line against his former coach.
“Tomorrow will be a crucial day for us to get our act together and get after USC,” Westhead said, who resides in Southern California in the offseason. “USC is the game we’d like to get.”
The Trojans are led by guard duo of Ashley Corral (16.3 points per game) and Briana Gilbreath (13.7), the 2009 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.
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