UCLA Women’s Basketball: Just Call Them “Bruins”
January 20, 2013; Berkeley, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Cori Close with team during the first half against the California Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
Who are the UCLA Women’s Basketball team? Well first off, they are not the “Lady Bruins”, they are the “Bruins”. They play for head coach Cori Close and U.C.L.A. With those four letters comes the moniker, Bruins. Just Bruins. Got a problem with that?
These Bruins have been playing some good basketball lately and they are starting the conference season off right. Coming out of a rough non-conference schedule where they came out 6-6, the Bruins have gone 4-3 in conference play to go above .500 for the first time this season.
You can credit a weekend sweep of the Oregon schools for that little boost. This past Friday, UCLA beat the Oregon Ducks 88-83. On Monday, they beat the Oregon State Beavers 66-63 to improve to 10-9 overall.
Dec 7, 2013; South Bend, IN, USA; UCLA Bruins forward Atonye Nyingifa (11) goes up for a shot as Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Taya Reimer (12) defends in the first half at the Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame won 90-48. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
The Bruins are lead by Atonye Nyingfa who got her 6th straight double-double over the Beavers with 17 points and 11 rebounds (5 of which were offensive). With that, she also had 5 steals and 1 block. This girl is a baller and has great handles. As she puts it, she likes to “keep the fans engaged”. She is definitely doing that with 18.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game.
Mar 9, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Nirra Fields (21) shoots a jump shot against the California Golden Bears during the semifinals of the Pac 12 tournament at Key Arena. UCLA defeated California 70-58. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Helping out in the scoring are guards Nirra Fields and Thea Lenberger who are contributing 17.6 and 15.8 points, respectively. That is three different Bruins, scoring more than 15 points per game. Talk about some offensive efficiency. But… can they take that efficiency further into the conference schedule?
Dec 7, 2013; South Bend, IN, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Thea Lemberger (1) dribbles in the first half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
These two wins are a good foundation to build because the Bruins are going to need it this week as the travel up to the Bay Area to face #4 Stanford and #14 Cal. It will be a tough trip, but a win at either of these places would also be a great win for the program. Now let us all help out in supporting them Bruins!
Mike W.R.
Twitter: @TheBigDisco