UCLA Olympic Sports Update, January 16th
By Derek Hart
Here’s the latest on selected Bruin Olympic sports on this Martin Luther King Day…
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL – These Bruins disappointed in the first of their two rivalry games with USC at the John Wooden Center on campus this past Saturday, losing to the Women of Troy 47-43 and falling to 2-3 in the Pac-12 Conference and 7-9 overall.
Cori Close’s team’s lack of shooting success was the culprit in this contest, with Thea Lemberger and Markel Walker combining to make just 4 of 23 shots. Walker did have 14 rebounds, but her two out of 11 shooting outweighed that.
The contest was close throughout, and UCLA did have a four point lead in the second half before they went around nine minutes without a basket, which ultimately did them in.
Rebekah Gardner was the only Bruin who could put the ball in the basket against ‘SC, scoring a game-high 20 points.
The Oregon schools come to the Wooden Center this weekend, Oregon State on Thursday, January 19 and Oregon on Saturday, January 21.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL – Now third ranked in the country, this team won the Outrigger Hotels Invitational in Honolulu, HI this past weekend by beating the host team, the Hawaii Warriors, on Saturday in straight sets before a partisan crowd of over 3,000.
The Bruins beat Lewis, 3 sets to 1, and Springfield, 3 sets to none, to get to the final.
UCLA is off to a good start in Al Scates’ final year, currently standing at 5-1 with the beginning of conference play coming up this weekend. They will face Stanford on Friday, January 20 and Pacific on Saturday, January 21. Both matches will be at the John Wooden Center.
WOMEN’S WATER POLO – This UCLA team, ranked 3rd in the nation to start, will begin their season at the Michigan Invitational at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor this weekend. Their first opponent: Colorado State on Saturday, January 21.
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