Feb. 3, 2002

Box Score

Los Angeles, Calif. - Washington jumped out to a big early lead and survived some poor second half field goal shooting to hand the Bruins a 68-48 decision in Pauley Pavilion before a crowd of 922. Junior guard Loree Payne led the visiting Huskies with a game-high 20 points, including four baskets from three-point range. The win gave Washington, now 13-8 and 8-4 in the Pac-10 conference, a sweep of the Los Angeles area schools.

Washington outscored the Bruins 19-4 at the outset of the game and settled for a 36-22 halftime lead. Payne totaled 12 of her 20 in the first half of play and had six of the Husky points at the start of the game. Sophomore guard Giuliana Mendiola added 12 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds for Huskies.

UCLA rallied back in the second half behind some outstanding defensive work and the play of 6-4 freshman center Krystle Johnson. The Huskies missed 12 of their first 13 shots to start the second half and did not score its first basket of the half until the 12:26 mark. Despite its 17% second half field goal percentage, Washington did make free throws and scored its first seven points of the half from the charity stripe and 19-25 free throws overall in the second half to help keep UCLA at bay.

The Bruins narrowed the margin to nine points twice in the second half, the first time coming at the 10:05 mark when a pair of Johnson free throws made the score 45-36. The second time came at the 7:20 mark after a Shalada Allen basket left Washington with a 50-41 advantage. Washington went on a 12-4 run shortly thereafter to seal the Bruins' fate.

Johnson finished the game with a career-high 15 points and grabbed four rebounds to lead the Bruins. Allen added 10 more points and collected a team-best seven rebounds for UCLA, which fell to 6-15 on the season and 3-10 in the Pac-10 conference.

The Bruins play their final non-conference game of the season on Tuesday night at Long Beach State and play at USC on Saturday.