For the first time all season the UCLA women’s basketball team was out-rebounded on Sunday against Washington in UCLA’s 73-62 win in the Big Ten conference opener.
It’s a surprising outcome that the Bruins were outworked on the boards 32-30 by the Huskies considering UCLA has the third highest rebounding margin this season. The 30 rebounds is a significant drop-off from their season average of 46.3 a game, which is the fifth highest average in the country.
“They were the first team that outrebounded us all year,” Bruins’ coach Cori Close pointed out in the postgame press conference Sunday. “I thought they outhustled us in some ways so I really want to give credit to them and how they played. I thought they played closer to their identity, than we did to ours.”
Junior guard Gabriela Jaquez led UCLA with seven rebounds, while junior center Lauren Betts hauled in just three rebounds while averaging 10.0 per game this season.
“Credit to their 1-4’s that were coming from long distances and really out-hustling us for the ball and out-competing us for rebounds.” Close said of Washington’s rebounding efforts.
Despite standing just at 5’11”, Washington’s guard Hannah Stines grabbed a game-high eight rebounds against the Bruins.
UCLA will have to wait till Saturday for another chance to put together a better performance rebounding the basketball, when the Bruins will travel to Long Beach State as they look to improve to 10-0.