Late Shooting Burst Helps UCLA Women's Basketball Pull Away From Virginia

The Cavaliers were hanging close until the Bruins came alive from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.

(Jared Tay/All Bruins)

The Bruins were neck-and-neck with another out-of-town foe, and a final push helped them secure another victory.

"We're obviously a long way from being the level of team that I want us to become, but the reality is that if you don't have fight, you don't have teamwork, if you don't have a level of toughness, it's really hard to address your mistakes," said coach Cori Close. "And so I'm actually really proud of their response.

No. 20 UCLA women's basketball (3-0) beat Virginia (0-4) 69-57 Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion, pulling away late to finish its season-opening homestand with a perfect record. While the Bruins only trailed for 35 seconds, things started off a lot closer than the final score – or their opponent's record – would indicate.

The last time the Cavaliers won was on Feb. 27, 2020 against Pittsburgh. The last time they won outside the state of Virginia was Jan. 12, 2020.

Virginia opened its 2020-2021 campaign 0-5 before canceling the rest of the season due to COVID-19 issues in the program. Returning to play this fall, the Cavaliers lost their first three contests of the season before coming out to Westwood.

That losing streak spanning three separate seasons wound up getting extended to 11 games by the end of the day Sunday, but not after some drama through three tight quarters.

UCLA led by seven after one, closing the first quarter on an 8-3 run. Virginia battled its way back into things in the second, though, even tying it up with 5:06 to go until halftime. The Bruins and Cavaliers traded 3-pointers in the final minute to send UCLA into the break up 32-29.

The Bruins kept up their shooting numbers heading into the second half, drilling five of their eight attempts in the third period. The issue came in ball security, and they ended up turning it over seven times in that frame alone.

That gave UCLA 17 turnovers through three quarters of play, putting them on pace for their most giveaways since Feb. 12, 2016, against Washington State. And as a result of all the possessions lost to offensive fouls, travels and errant passes, UCLA led just 45-40 with 10 minutes left on the clock.

The, the tides turned the Bruins' way in the fourth quarter. While they ended up with another four turnovers in the final frame, all of them came after UCLA had already stormed out to a late 15-point lead.

(Jared Tay/All Bruins)

By holding onto the ball early in the fourth, the Bruins' offense took advantage and started draining shots from deep – guard Natalie Chou and forward IImar'I Thomas opened the quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, and after a couple free throws by Thomas, guard Dominique Onu and Jaelynn Penn hit 3s of their own.

Thomas hit another couple free throws to make it an 18-4 run, and then Chou kept piling it on with a couple deep 2s. Thomas scored 11 of her 19 points in the second half, and Chou and Penn also scored double digits across just the last two quarters.

"On offense, we really started being more patient," Thomas said. "Just it started to click for us. That was one of the times we saw that we could pull away, so we just took advantage of it."

Chou led UCLA with 20, her most points in a game so far on the season.

Onu was making her first career start, and she hit both of her attempts from downtown. With leading scorer Charisma Osborne out, Onu had to play 31 minutes, and she managed to put up six points and two steals in her place.

"The reality is I asked them for more effort plays and more teamworks plays, and I think that's what they gave us," Close said. "I saw something, a little more fight in them."

UCLA will return to the court at the Gulf Coast Showcase on Friday, opening things up in Estero, Florida, against Kent State at 10:30 a.m.

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