By Davis Ramage
Long Beach State women’s basketball was simply outmatched in a 102-51 onslaught courtesy of the No.1 ranked UCLA Bruins at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday. With the win, UCLA head coach Cori Close broke the UCLA all-time wins record with her 297th win.
The Bruins entered the game at 9-0 and were ranked No.1 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll and with the marginal win, that ranking will likely stand on Monday.
UCLA boasts two projected first-round picks in the WNBA draft; junior center Lauren Betts and junior forward Janiah Barker. Betts finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while Barker finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds on 9-10 shooting from the field.
Junior forward Janiah Barker (left), drives past two Long Beach State defenders for a layup on Dec. 14 at the Walter Pyramid. Barker ended the game with 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists as The Bruins beat The Beach 102-51. Photo credit: Samuel Chacko
The Bruins came out of the gates implementing their offensive game plan which was evident, give the ball to Betts.
On the first possession of the game, UCLA found a gap in The Beach’s 2-3 zone and entered the ball into Betts who backed down graduate forward Rachel Loobie for the easy layup. On the other end of the floor, Betts blocked The Beach’s mid-range attempt, making her presence felt and setting the precedence for the rest of the game.
Bruin fans showed up in large numbers as the famous UCLA blue was ever-present in the black and yellow seats of the Walter Pyramid, and they were not let down by the play of the Bruins.
The Bruins jumped out to an early 16-2 lead and never looked back. They ended the first quarter up 28-8 and looked keen to run up the score.
It was clear from the jump that The Beach was physically outmatched and as a result, they were out-rebounded 17-3 in the first quarter.
Junior center Lauren Betts (blue) drives for a floater against sophomore forward Jada Crawshaw (white) on Dec. 14 at the Walter Pyramid. Betts’ lenght helped The Bruins grab rebounds as she scored 22 points and 10 rebounds as UCLA beat Long Beach State 102-51. Photo credit: Samuel Chacko
To help with the size of the 6’7 Betts, 6’3 LBSU freshman center Haley Wright saw an uptick in playing time with 11 minutes. Wright averaged 7.2 minutes per game coming into Saturday’s game.
Not only were The Beach outmatched physically, but UCLA looked to be the team with the most hustle as it was first to every loose ball whether in the air or on the floor.
Junior guards Kiki Rice and Londynn Jones were the catalysts for this effort as both initiated the offensive gameplan and hustled all over the court.
“Whether it be diving on the floor, getting the deflection, keeping people in front of her, pressuring the other team’s point guards, all those things are winning plays,” Close said.
LBSU senior guard Savannah Tucker did not seem to be intimidated by either the size or the draft stock of the UCLA bigs and she found some success attacking the basket and getting to the free-throw line, taking a team-high five free-throws and making a team-high three.
Bruin graduate forward Angela Dugalić was a perfect 7-7 from the floor in the first half and totaled 16 points in 16 minutes while posting a +/- of 26. She ended with a career-high 22 points.
“It’s my career-high but it’s not really a big thing for me,” Dugalić said.
The Beach found themselves down 49-20 at the half with a large margin to make up against the best team in the country.
Long Beach State started sending two defenders at Betts when the ball was entered to her in the post, but that left open shooters like junior guard Gabriela Jaquez and Dugalić open on the perimeter for Betts to distribute to.
The second half followed the same script as the first, but there were bright spots for The Beach. Sophomore forward Jada Crawshaw had a career-high 19 points with 14 of them coming in the second half.
Sophomore forward Jada Crawshaw (left) drives in the lane against UCLA junior forward Janiah Barker (right) on Dec. 14 at the Walter Pyramid. Crawshaw scored a team-high 19 points and shot 50% from field-goal range as Long Beach State lose to UCLA 102-51. Photo credit: Samuel Chacko
UCLA was scrambling to find someone to guard Crawahaw when she got hot in the fourth quarter. During a timeout in the fourth, Close asked the team “Who was going to step up and guard number 12?” They landed on Rice to try and cool down Crawshaw’s hot hand.
“I think honestly it felt good in the moment. What I was really trying to do was just provide for this team,” Crawshaw said. “I saw Kiki [Rice] come and guard me and I was like ‘Oh my god, this is what it’s like, OK.”
Despite Crawshaw’s effort, The Beach fell by a final score of 102-51.
“They’re a great team,” LBSU head coach Amy Wright said. “In terms of knockdown shooters, just their patience, their discipline, they’re just a really good confident team right now.”
Next on the schedule is Elon on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 1 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
