Nov. 9, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
***GAME #1: Fri., Nov. 12, 2010
OPPONENT: San Diego State
SITE: Viejas Arena (12,414)
TIP-OFF: 7:00 p.m.
TV: themtn.
TALENT: Tracy Warren, Andrea Lloyd
AUDIO: uclabruins.com
TALENT: Dave Marcus

***GAME #2: Sun., Nov. 14, 2010
OPPONENT: UC Santa Barbara
SITE: Pauley Pavilion (12,500)
TIP-OFF: 2:00 p.m.
VIDEO/AUDIO: uclabruins.com
TALENT: Dave Marcus, Mike Sondheimer, Tracy Murray

Bruins At Aztecs Friday
Coach Nikki Caldwell's No. 15 (USA Today ESPN)/ No. 16 (AP) ranked Bruins will open up the 2010-11 season on the road at San Diego State. Tip-off is set for 7:02 p.m. and the game will be nationally televised by The Mtn. (DirecTV Ch. 616).

UCLA completed its pre-season preparations with a 79-43 win over Vanguard University of Southern California in an exhibition contest played on Nov. 8. Jasmine Dixon (23/16) and Rebekah Gardner (19/13) posted double-doubles to lead the way for the Bruins.

San Diego State went 23-11 last season, won the Mountain West Conference tournament after a third place (tied) regular season finish and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Duke.

UCLA will return home for a Sunday afternoon game against UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. The Gauchos went 15-17 last season and finished fifth in the Big West conference. The Bruins earned a 61-49 win last season in Santa Barbara on Dec. 15, 2009.

Season Tickets, Mini-Plans On Sale Now
Season tickets and mini-plans are on sale now for 2010-11. A season ticket gets you a floor-level reserved seat for all 15 home games for $99 for adults and $49 for youth. A season ticket family plan (2 adults and 2 youth) costs $199 ($97 savings). Faculty/staff season tickets cost just $79.

The Big Game Mini-Plan ($29) includes a floor-level reserved seat to four UCLA home games (Temple, USC, California and Stanford) plus a ticket to the 2011 LA Sparks Home Opener. The 3 Pack ($20) offers a floor-level reserved seat to Bruin home games against LSU, USC and California.

Tickets are available for purchase at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at 310/UCLA-WIN or online at tickets.ucla.edu.

Dix-on The List
Junior forward Jasmine Dixon is on several pre-season award lists - the Naismith Trophy watch list, the Wooden Award watch list, Lindy's 3rd team pre-season All-America team and the conference media's preseason All-Pac-10 squad.

About The Opponents
San Diego State is coached by Beth Burns, who is in her 14th season (second tour of duty) in charge of the Aztecs. SDSU returns three starters from last year's squad -- Coco Davis 5-9 Sr. G (5.6 ppg/3.6 apg), Jessika Bradley 6-3 Sr. F (7.2 ppg/6.5 rpg/1.9 blk), Paris Johnson 6-4, Sr. C (11.1 ppg/6.3 rpg/1.8 blk). The losses included guards Jene' Morris (17.1 ppg) and Quenese Davis (13.2 ppg).

UC Santa Barbara is coached by former Cal assistant Lindsay Gottlieb (3rd season). 6-4 senior center Mekia Valentine ranked third in the nation last season with 4.0 blocks per game and 36th in the nation with her 9.7 rebounds per game mark. Leading scorer Emilie Johnson, a 5-6 junior guard who averaged 13.8 points per game last year, also returns.

Last Time Vs. San Diego State
UCLA leads the series with San Diego State, 21-6. The teams were once in the same conference (Western Collegiate Athletic) and played on a regular basis but have not squared off since the 1999-2000 season. The last meeting was on Dec. 9, 1999 in a contest won by the Bruins 82-61 in Pauley Pavilion. The last time the teams played in San Diego was on Dec. 11, 1998, a 104-56 Bruin win.

Pre-Season Polls
UCLA appeared at No. 15 in the pre-season USA Today/ESPN women's basketball coaches' poll and at No. 16 in the pre-season poll announced by the Associated Press. The Bruins have also been listed in the pre-season national rankings of three major publications --- Athlon Magazine #13, Lindy's Magazine #16, Sporting News #20. In addition, Lindy's named junior forward Jasmine Dixon as a third-team pre-season All-American.

Pre-Season - No. 2
The Pac-10 women's basketball coaches picked UCLA to finish second in the conference in the annual pre-season poll. Stanford, with nine first-place votes, was in the top spot. The Cardinal (81 points) was followed by UCLA (one first-place vote, 73), USC (61), California (60), Arizona State (49), Oregon (37), Arizona (36), Washington State (22), Washington (22), and Oregon State (9).

The Pac-10 media made Stanford a unanimous choice for the conference top spot with 12 first-place votes and 120 points in the voting. The Bruins followed with 108 points, then Cal (88), USC (82), ASU (77), Arizona (61), Oregon (46), Washington (39), Washington State (26), and Oregon State (13).

Votes Are In
The final 2009-10 USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll listed the Bruins as No. 23, which was the program's first season-ending listing since being ranked 18th at the conclusion of the 2006 season. UCLA was ranked No. 22 in the final regular season AP poll.

All-Conference Bruins
Head coach Nikki Caldwell was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Guard Doreena Campbell and forward Jasmine Dixon were selected to the All-Pac-10 squad. Forward Markel Walker was named honorable mention all-conference. Walker was also named to the conference All-Freshman team.

National Rankings
In the final NCAA ranking of the 2009-10 season, the Bruins were listed in the Top 55 in seven categories --- 15th in rebound margin (6.7); 25th in steals/g (10.6); 27th in field goal% (44.0); 34th in scoring margin (10.3); 38th in scoring defense (57.5); 51st in turnover margin (2.59); 55th in fg% defense (37.1). Jasmine Dixon ranked 18th in field goal percentage with a mark of 55%.

Pac-10 Notes
With their second-place conference finish in 2009-10, the Bruins earned their ninth top-four Pac-10 finish in the last 13 seasons. Only Stanford, with 13 top-four finishes, has achieved a higher level of success in that period. Arizona State has eight such finishes. The 15 conference wins matched the school mark and the second-place finish was UCLA's best since it captured a share of first in the 1998-99 season.

For The Record
Nikki Caldwell was the first Bruin coach to be named Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year.....UCLA was 18-1 last season when scoring at least 64 points and had a 21-straight game streak in such games snapped in the season-ending contest against Nebraska......UCLA was 21-6 with transfer Jasmine Dixon in the lineup, after she made her debut on Dec. 15....The Bruins are 34-3 in the Caldwell era in games in which they have held an opponent to 60 points or less.

Listed Bruins
*Doreena Campbell completed her junior year ranking first all-time on both the all-time free throw % list (.821) and three-point field goal shooting % of .412.
*Campbell's free throw percentage of 88.4% last season ranked as the fourth-best in school history.
*Campbell is poised to become the 24th member of the Bruin 1,000-point club after completing her junior season with 981 points.
*Darxia Morris led the Bruins with 106 assists and had 10 games with at least four assists, including a career-best 10 assists.
*Markel Walker completed her freshman season with 255 rebounds, 18th on the all-time school list and third on the freshman list.