Los Angeles, CA —UCLA played old fashioned basketball pass to the hot player and let your opponent figure out a way to stop them.
Emily Bessoir drained four 3-pointers and finished the contest with 20 points, Londynn Jones chipped in 17 points and No. 18 UCLA (19-6, 8-5) fended off Oregon (14-11, 5-9 Pac-12) to beat them 67-57 Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.
The Ducks has now lost six of its last seven games and is in the midst of its longest skid since the 2015-16 campaign — coach Kelly Graves’ second year with the program. They remain tied for eighth place with Washington with four games to play. To finish .500 in the Pac-12 conference, they’ll need to win their four remaining games.
The first half was played very evenly with a 28-28 tie at the break. The third quarter was where the Bruins started to get their offense on track, turning seven Oregon’s turnovers into 10 points to get up by seven-points. They drained threes on three straight possessions to seize control.
Endyia Rogers scored seven points in an 11-4 run, including a long three pointer that ignited the spurt, to knot the game at 55-all with three minutes to go in the game. Oregon missed their final five field-goal attempts from that point on.
It has been their achilles heel throughout the Pac-12 play, the Ducks struggled to make shots when it mattered. UCLA got separation of the game with a shot-clock beating layup and then scored their next two baskets after offensive rebounds extended their possessions.
Rogers’ three pointer were her final points of the game. The senior led the Ducks in scoring with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Freshmen Grace VanSlooten and Chance Gray joined Rogers in double-figure scoring with 13 apiece. Nine of Gray’s 13 points came in the first half. She hit 1-of-10 second half shots. Phillipina Kyei chipped in eight points and a game-high 13 boards.
Charisma Osborne chipped in 13 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals for the Bruins.
Kiki Rice put the game away with a layup that gave UCLA the lead for good, Bessoir scored in the lane and Jones followed with a layup for a 61-55 lead with 1:47 remaining in the contest. Grace VanSlooten made two free throws 20 seconds later, Osborne got a layup and a free throw around a trey by Bessoir to cap off the scoring.
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UCLA will be on the road Friday, Feb.17 to play