Friday, November 24
Las Vegas, Nev.
1:15 PM
UCLA
4-1
64
vs
55
Kansas State
4-1
1
2
3
4
F
Kansas State
10
16
11
18
55
UCLA
17
14
17
16
64
Monique Billings led the Bruins with a double-double performance of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Photo by: UCLA Athletics
No. 5/4 UCLA Defeats Kansas State, 64-55
November 24, 2017 | Women's Basketball
Bruins open South Point Thanksgiving Shootout victoriously, face Creighton on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PT.
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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) – UCLA and head coach Cori Close were worried about the "letdown" game against Kansas State Saturday. Previously, the No. 5 Bruins lost to top-ranked Connecticut at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday night in an early-season showdown and in front of 9,263.
Playing in front of a just a few hundred against unranked, but undefeated Kansas State at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout, the Bruins had some difficulties around the middle stretches of the game. However in the second half, UCLA, which never trailed, pulled away to a 64-55 victory.
"Today was our redemption day," said UCLA's Monique Billings, who led with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. "It felt bad losing, especially on our home floor. We wanted to kick someone else's butt to get that feeling back."
The Bruins got a wake-up call Friday.
"Yesterday's practice told me, we had a little bit of a hangover," said Close, whose team lost to Connecticut 78-60 just three days ago. "We were really disappointed, and we didn't really play as well as we wanted. Today, I knew we would be ready to play today, especially against their length and zone defense."
Kennedy Burke and Kelli Hayes each added 12 points for the Bruins (4-1), with Hayes making a career-best four three-pointers. UCLA leading scorer Jordin Canada got into early foul trouble and finished with just six points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals.
"I was just trying to be a little aggressive out there," said Canada, who finished with four fouls and coming in was averaging 16.8 points per game. "I just had to adjust out there. We were out there trying to adjust to their zone."
After only leading 31-28 early in the second half, the Bruins outscored the Wildcats the rest of the way in the third quarter, 17-9.
Kayla Goth led Kansas State (4-1) with a season-high 19 points. Goth was 9 of 15 from the field.
Kansas State struggled shooting from everywhere, including 19 of 54 (35 percent) from the field.
"We left a lot of chances out there on the floor, free-throw line, layups," Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. "Some opportunities were not converted. UCLA is very athletic and got a lot of extra chances on the boards. We got Canada and (Lajahna Drummer) into foul trouble. We had our opportunities."
UCLA, which was 21 of 56 from the field for 38 percent, scored the game's first eight points and eventually built a 17-10 edge at the end of the first quarter, and a 28-12 lead, its largest of the first half. The Wildcats responded with a 14-3 run to end the half as Goth scored 10 in the session, hitting all five shot attempts. The rest of the Wildcats were 5-of-21 from the field.
TURNING POINT: The Bruins started the third quarter on a 10-2 run while Kansas State started 1 of 11 from the field during that period. UCLA's lead never got below six points the rest of the game, although the Wildcats cut the lead to 64-54 with 1:15 left.
"I thought we defended well until late in the fourth quarter," Close said. "I really didn't like the way we played with our turnovers. In the end, our defensive rebounding carried us and saved the day."
BIG PICTURE
UCLA: The Bruins bounced back after losing to top-ranked UConn at home on Tuesday in front 9,263, their third largest crowd ever at Pauley Pavilion. No. 2 Texas is also at the Shootout, but the teams agreed not to meet.
KANSAS STATE: This was the third time in their history the Wildcats started 4-0. The last time was in 1979-80. This season, Kansas State has had 30 blocked shots, but only registered one on Friday.
SERIES HISTORY: This was the first meeting between the teams since Dec. 1980. The Bruins are now 4-0 in the series.
UP NEXT
The Bruins play Creighton on Saturday at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout.
Kansas State plays Penn State on Saturday at the Shootout.
Team Stats
KSU
UCLA
FG%
.352
.375
3FG%
.273
.286
FT%
.524
.593
RB
31
48
TO
16
23
STL
10
11
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
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