UCLA Women's Basketball: Balanced Bruins Beat Utes, Advance To Pac-12 Semis
Your 25-5 UCLA Bruins punched their ticket to their eighth Pac-12 Tournament Semifinals appearance in the last nine years tonight in Vegas, when they knocked out the 22-10 Utah Utes. It was a 67-57 victory, with that sum on Utah's side far below its normally prolific scoring output.
Graduate student guard Charisma Osborne's arsenal of unstoppable pull-up jumpers helped kick off UCLA's offense early.
Osborne finished with a solid 16 points on 8-of-16 field goal shooting, even after having to exit midway through the game's third quarter following a collision. She did eventually return to the floor.
Her backcourt mate, sophomore guard Kiki Rice, also helped power the club's early offense. Rice would wrap up with 13 points while connecting on 4-of-10 shooting from the field (2-of-2 from three point land) and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, a Bruins-most nine boards and one blocked shot.
Multifaceted junior big Angela Dugalic, however, was the club's leading scorer. The 6'4" power forward/center stepped up with Utah perpetually double-teaming All-Pac-12 center Lauren Betts. She tied her all-time NCAA career-high with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, including 3-of-4 three-point shooting. Some of those triples were practically from the logo at mid-court!
Although Utah more or less kept pace, UCLA did manage to outscore the Utes across each frame, albeit marginally (by two points in the first quarter, three in the second and third frames, and two in the fourth period).
UCLA's stellar defense, particularly on the perimeter, helped limit Utah's shooting to pitiful marks of 35% from the floor (30% from deep) and 50% from the charity stripe on 12 attempts.
The Bruins, though, posted far more efficient shooting marks of 48.1% shooting from the floor (47.1% from distance) and 81.8% from the foul line on a similar 11 tries. UCLA also out-rebounded Utah by a massive 42-27 margin.
Next up for the Bruins is a date with a very familiar foe tomorrow, the USC Trojans, who also knocked off their first round opponents tonight.