The undefeated season continued on Friday night for the UCLA Bruins, with an absolute thrashing of UT Martin 97-37 to begin the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Hawaii.
The Skyhawks led 10-9 at the 6:05 mark of the first quarter and then never again as UCLA would outscore UT Martin 86-27 the rest of the way with junior center Lauren Betts led the Bruins with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
After being tabbed the #1 team in the country earlier this week, the Bruins lived up to the billing, shooting 53% from the field and hitting 12 of their 27 three point attempts. UCLA’s defense forced 28 Skyhawk turnovers, held them to 24% shooting and created two different single-digit scoring quarters for UT Martin. The ball movement for UCLA was also sharp, with 26 assists off of 36 made field goals.
The Bruins’ bench played great on Friday, with juniors Timea Gardiner, Janiah Barker and Gabriela Jaquez outscored the Skyhawks by themselves off the bench (38-37) but no reserve played better than Jaquez who had 17 points on 8-8 shooting including a made three while adding four rebounds and two assists.
Freshman Kendell Dudley also contributed to the Bruins’ strong bench outing by stuffing the statsheet with eight points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Junior Kiki Rice continued her return with 21 minutes and six points and four assists while taking only three shots from the field.
Now the Bruins will have their first back-to-back of the season, facing Fresno State Saturday at 2:00p.m. before they face Hawaii on Sunday to end their Rainbow Wahine Showdown action.