Riding their second three-game winning streak of the season, the women’s basketball team takes on the Oregon Ducks tonight in Eugene, Ore. and will travel to Corvallis, Ore. on Saturday to try to post their first consecutive conference road wins of the year.
In their matchup earlier this season, the Bruins (12-11, 6-5 Pac-10) knocked off the Ducks at Pauley Pavilion 77-70 behind a strong second-half performance. UCLA will look to establish a lead on the road so it won’t have to come from behind again.
“You learn a lot from losses,” coach Kathy Olivier said, “and that’s something that all athletes know. But our team is tired of learning from losses. So our big focus this week was let’s learn from wins.”
Against Oregon previously, the Bruins held the Ducks (11-9, 3-7) to 13-36 shooting in the second half and did not commit a turnover after the break, which was a huge key in their comeback win.
This time around, the Bruins will have to combat a hostile environment at McArthur Court. Although they have visited two of the harshest arenas in the country, New Mexico and Tennessee, playing in Eugene is no walk in the park.
“There’s no special speech (to prepare the team),” Olivier said. “Our preseason and our non-conference schedule prepared us for a place like Oregon. Is it going to be worse than New Mexico – The Pit? No. No way. I think our team has done fairly well on the road. I don’t think we let crowds get to us. It’s more knowing that the momentum’s going to swing and that when things don’t go our way we can’t get frustrated and get down on ourselves.
Saturday at OSU (8-11, 3-7) will be a rematch of the 56-52 Bruin loss at Pauley Pavilion in early January. UCLA will have to slow down Beaver guard Casey Nash, one of the Pac-10’s leading scorers. She put up 18 points and played 40 minutes against the Bruins.
“She’s playing very good basketball,” Olivier said. “Their coach has done a good job in making sure she gets a lot of shots. ... We just have to play good, fundamentally sound defense. When we take chances, that’s when teams beat us. Defensive discipline this weekend is pretty much the focus.”
For the Bruins, this weekend’s matchups against two conference teams ranked below them is a serious matter.
“This should be like an NCAA (Tournament) game,” Olivier said. “If we take each game with that kind of focus and that kind of intensity, good things will happen. When we give it a little extra, good things happen. We’ve got to keep it going.”