By all means, this was a precarious week for the Bruins.Heading into Thursday's contest against Cal, UCLA had sole possession of third place in the Pac-12 standings with a 7-4 conference record, one game behind the Golden Bears but also just one game in front of a trio of teams - Arizona State, Oregon State, and USC - tied for fourth.
Well, after today's results, the West just got that much wilder. After losing 67-58 to Cal on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion, the Bruins actually kept up with Stanford for the first half on Sunday before the Cardinal used a strong second-half performance to clinch an 82-59 win at Maples Pavilion. The commentaries from both games are below:
Against the Bears
This marked the Bruins' first rematch week against their confrerence opponents, and in a way, Thursday mirrored the previous UCLA-Cal matchup in terms of the margin of the score. The difference, though, in a game that had five ties and six lead changes? Reshanda Gray, who paced the Bears with 17 points and 14 rebounds. The freshman forward and Los Angeles native was just too much for the Bruins in the second half, scoring 13 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in the final period.
It also didn't help that Corinne Costa was in foul trouble for much of this game. Costa, who dominated the previous game against Cal with a school-record seven blocks, played just 17 minutes, and it was clear the Bruins missed her size and length in the interior (see: Reshandra Gray).
Against the Cardinal
With a Thursday loss already spoiling the road trip, could the Bruins possibly pull off a shocker, going up against a Cardinal team with an unblemished 12-0 conference record? UCLA certainly stuck it to Stanford in the first half - the Bruins grabbed the 26-23 lead with 5:21 left in the period on two made free throws by Thea Lemberger - and even had their moments in the second period. But in the end, the Cardinal unleashed the wrath of the Ogwumikes. Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 14 of her game-high 25 points in the second half, while younger sister Chiney Ogwumike registered 15 of her 19 in the final frame, often overwhelming an undersized Bruin frontcourt.
Rebekah Gardner came on late for UCLA after being held to just four points in the first period, but it was a matter of too little too late, as the Cardinal outscored the Bruins 49-27 in the second half to run away with the win.
"In the second half, we lost some of our focus, and Stanford was getting back-door cuts against us," said Gardner, who reached the 1,000 career-points scoring mark with 15 for the game. "In the second half, we weren't able to get out in transition as much as we were in the first half."
If there was a silver lining to be gleaned for the Bruins from today's game, it was the play of Rhema Gardner, who has steadily emerged as a defensive stalwart. Although she eventually fouled out of the game, the sophomore forward held her own in the post, not backing down against the Ogwumike sisters and hinting at an enforcer-type mentality.
"Rhema's intensity has increased throughout the season," UCLA head coach Cori Close said. "She's been going much more aggressively for rebounds, she understands the game plans, and she's been doing this against really good players. The biggest thing for us is, 'How do we link all the pieces together? How can we use what we know about Rhema now that maybe we didn't know about her in November and make her a better player?' We've had a lot of individual steps of improvement. Now, we have to piece it all together and make those steps of improvement as a group."
