UCLA womens basketball crushes Maryland for its

Two days after UCLA ladies’s basketball coach Cori Close put her gamers through one of their most grueling practices all season, the crew responded with a gritty effort, doing a lot of the little issues proper to produce a big 97-67 victory over No. 12 Maryland on Sunday afternoon before 8,721 followers at Pauley Pavilion.

The third-ranked Bruins (17-1 total, 7-0 Big Ten) used a balanced assault. Gabriela Jaquez set the tempo with 22 factors (making 10 of 13 pictures) while Charlisse Leger-Walker added 17 factors, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

“The story of this game was really our depth and our selflessness,” Close said. “Lauren Betts was spectacular today. It won’t show on the stat sheet but the way she handled double and triple teams, we got so many threes. I celebrate the way we won. We made winning plays, from boxing out, to forcing an extra rotation… the list goes on and on.”

Gianna Kneepkens had 16 factors, Angela Dugalic had 12, Lauren Betts had 11 factors and 5 blocks, youthful sister Sienna Betts added 9 factors and Kiki Rice dished out six assists.

Leger-Walker wowed the gang with a no-look behind-the-back move to Lauren Betts for a basket in the fourth quarter.

“I know Lauren’s an amazing cutter,” Leger-Walker said. “I saw her cut from the weak side, we made eye contact, two people came to me and I passed it to her. On our team you have to be thinking all the time.”

It took UCLA 11 seconds to take the lead it will never relinquish. Betts gained the opening tip and Leger-Walker handed to Jaquez for an uncontested layup that obtained the Bruins off to the fast start their coach desired. Betts’ layup made it 13-4 at the 5:25 mark. The Terrapins pulled to within two but Leger-Walker’s three obtained the margin to eight by the end of the first quarter.

UCLA led by as many as 15 factors in the second quarter and headed into the locker room up 47-35, but Close was not fully happy. “We need to do a better job switching and communicating on defense. We’re giving up way too many threes. Offensively we’ve been pretty efficient.”

A turnaround jumper by Jaquez capped a 10-2 run to open the second half. A layup by Dugalic made it 71-43 with 1:18 left in the third quarter.

“It’s easy to be complacent and not fight for every possession but our coaches do a good job holding the standard,” Leger-Walker added. “We’ve also got lots of leadership on this team and when you combine that with the talent we have you can play really fun basketball.”

The Bruins had a decisive 46-24 benefit in the rebounding battle, had 25 second-chance factors and outscored Maryland 48-24 in the paint.

“We were minus 22 on the glass, that’s their strength and they made us pay,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “We have five freshman, they have more experience, they play the right way, they can space the floor and they make it really difficult for you. They’re ranked in the top four for a reason.”

The Bruins used their peak benefit to document their seventh win against a ranked opponent this season. They gained their third straight against Maryland, night the all-time sequence at 5-5. The colleges met in the AIAW championship recreation in 1978 and UCLA prevailed 90-74 for its first and only national title.

Oluchi Okananwa scored 25 factors to tempo the Terrapins (17-3, 5-3), who have been coming off a 62-55 win Thursday at USC.

“In this program we’re built on effort plays, getting extra possessions that can make a difference at the end of a game,” Kneepkens said. “Focusing on that I don’t worry as much about making shots. It’s hard for teams to scout us, they have to pick their poison. We have so many players who can score.”

UCLA stays scorching on the heels of top-ranked and undefeated UConn (which was idle Sunday) and No. 2 South Carolina, which crushed Coppin St. 90-48 two hours before the Bruins took the court. The Bruins have gained 11 in a row since their only loss to No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas.