Friday night was a game of second chances at McKale Center.
Unfortunately for the Arizona women’s basketball team, the Wildcats weren’t on the receiving end.
The 15th-ranked UCLA Bruins converted on 22 second-chance shots and grabbed 45 rebounds on the way to a 79-56 win at McKale Center.
“We weren’t aggressive at first, we were intimated by their height,” said senior Dejza James, who played 28 minutes, scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds.
Added senior LaBrittney Jones: “They are a bigger team and we had to do a better job boxing out.”
Jones led all scorers with 26 points and seven rebounds. She moved within five points of tying Aimee Grzyb (who played from 2001-04) with 1,227 points for 12th on the UA career scoring list.
“I’ll take it,” Jones said of her scoring effort. “But I would like a closer, better and more competitive game from us. We didn’t really execute tonight.”
It was also a case of a few hot hands, as UCLA’s Jordin Canada and Nicole Kornet each scored 21 points.
While UA was down only by three at the end of the first quarter and held the Bruins to only 33 percent shooting from the floor, it seemed like they were down by more.
“We never could get anything going,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “I looked up and we were only down by three or four and it felt like 20. I don’t know why things never got going.
“It’s hard to play against a zone that long. We should have rebounded, but it’s hard to box out in the zone, so it was one and done. We never had an answer.”
In that first quarter as the Bruins’ shots weren’t falling, they had open looks and there was a sense that one of the top teams in the Pac-12 would break loose at some point. And, they did.
Kornet hit her first three pointer (she finished with three) with 3:40 left in the second quarter. Kari Korver followed with a three, and just like that the Bruins were up 31-18.
They went into the half with a 36-23 lead.
While the Wildcats kept fighting until the buzzer, Barnes was not happy with their overall effort. UCLA improved to 21-7 overall and 12-5 in Pac-12 play. The Wildcats fell to 13-15 and 4-13. Arizona will wrap up its regular season Sunday with a game against USC.
“At half time we talked about strategy, attitude and work ethic,” said Barnes. “We weren’t playing hard; that’s not my style. I can’t live with that. It is not the identity of this Arizona basketball program.
“Tonight, no one took the initiative to get the team rallied and find a way to fix it. I expect hustle, diving after balls. Without the little things, you don’t win games, you don’t beat No. 15 at home.”
