LOS ANGELES — The eighth-ranked UCLA women’s basketball showed its potential to play as one and fight through some ugliness on the night that it shared the spotlight with five players on senior night.
Despite a lackluster second half, the Bruins’ team effort resulted in a 53-45 victory over No. 13 Colorado on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion and moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-12 with two games remaining.
“There’s going to be a time down the road that we’re going to have a tough offensive night,” Coach Cori Close told reporters after the game. “And we’re going to go say, hey, remember that Colorado game? We know how to do this.”
Kiki Rice had 20 points to go with nine rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots as UCLA (22-5 overall, 11-5 in Pac-12 play) dealt Colorado (20-7, 10-6) its fourth loss in a row. Charisma Osborne scored 14 points and Lauren Betts grabbed nine rebounds.
Newly returned to the top 10 in the AP rankings, the Bruins blew a 12-point, first-half lead before recovering in the third quarter behind Rice and Osborne.
“It gives us a lot of confidence going into this final week of Pac-12,” Osborne said. “It’s the first time we’ve won three in a row in a long time.”
Scoreless in the first half, Quay Miller ignited a 13-2 run for the Buffaloes to open the third, capped by Tameiya Sadler’s steal and basket for a 32-31 lead, their first of the game. The Bruins committed seven turnovers in seven minutes (on their way to 24 for the night).
Londynn Jones came in and scored five in a row, Rice made two free throws and Osborne scored to send UCLA into the fourth leading 40-35.
“Tough games, especially tight ones down the stretch, you start to realize every possession matters,” Rice said.
The 6-foot-7 Betts, whose field-goal percentage leads Division I, was scoreless until the fourth, when her basket extended UCLA’s lead to 44-35. Her two points tied a season low and were well below her team-best 15.5 points per game.
“You have to be able to make other kinds of winning plays,” Close said.
The Buffs closed to 46-43 on five straight points by Aaronette Vonleh.
Both teams then went cold, combining to go 0 for 20 during a nearly 10-minute stretch that finally ended with Osborne’s 3-pointer with 1:25 left, keeping UCLA ahead 49-43.
“I just saw no one guarding me and that’s a shot that I practice all the time,” Osborne said.
Close appreciated the way Osborne remained focused and confident on a night when shots were not falling.
“Charisma didn’t have her same offense tonight,” Close said, “but if she didn’t maintain her composure and her pride on defense, she wouldn’t have been able to hit that huge three that was such a huge separator.”
Rice stole the ball and scored with 17 seconds remaining to seal the win.
UCLA’s Angela Dugalić, Izzy Anstey, Emily Bessoir, Cam Brown and Osborne were each recognized on senior night.
The Bruins outscored the Buffs 17-7 in the first quarter with Colorado missing 11 of 13 shots from the floor.
Colorado scored the first eight points of the second to close within two. But the Bruins answered with 12 straight points by Osborne and Rice to lead 29-19 at halftime.
The Bruins scored 24 points in the paint while limiting Colorado to 29% shooting across all four quarters. Colorado scored 21 points off of UCLA’s 24 turnovers.
“It was terrible,” Close said. “And more than anything, it’s eight assists to 24 turnovers. It’s the ratio that hurts you so much. It tells you how we weren’t creating easier shots for each other on offense. We did not create the catches that you need to create the ball movement.”
Jaylyn Sherrod led Colorado with 10 points before fouling out late in the game. Both teams struggled offensively in the fourth, going nearly 10 minutes without scoring.
Fourth-ranked Stanford is in first place in the Pac-12 standings with a 13-3 record. No. 7 USC, No. 11 Oregon State and UCLA are now tied for second at 11-5 and Colorado is third at 10-6.
UCLA has two games left at Arizona State and Arizona before the Pac-12 tournament begins in Las Vegas on March 6.
“I’m really, really proud of the different ways we’re finding to win,” Close said. “We have a phrase we use all the time: Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us. The reality is, it’s the four letters and getting the ‘dub’.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
No. 8 UCLA holds on against No. 13 Colorado in defensive battle @MGMResortsIntl pic.twitter.com/GNiZo0zHYB
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) February 27, 2024
