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LOS ANGELES — Nine minutes of the third quarter led to the UCLA women’s basketball team’s 72-65 win over USC on Sunday afternoon.
In that span, covering most of the period, the Bruins erased a 13-point deficit and outscored their crosstown rival by 24 points en route to a fifth consecutive victory, gaining a jolt of confidence as they opened Pac-12 play at Galen Center.
With 8:54 left in the third quarter, the Bruins trailed the Trojans, 41-28, before beginning a 16-2 run that positioned them ahead for the first time since the early minutes of the contest. A pair of free throws by senior guard Kennedy Burke midway through the third quarter put them up, 44-43, and they never trailed again.
The Bruins (8-5) shot almost 58 percent in the third quarter as every shot seemed to fall, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by senior forward Lajahna Drummer that banked off the glass and went through the rim to give them a 59-49 lead. After the arena buzzer sounded, UCLA’s players leapt off the bench to celebrate with Drummer on the court.
As recently as four weeks ago, UCLA had been plagued by a sluggish start to its season, left to recover from the departures of Jordin Canada and Monique Billings from last season’s team that reached the Elite Eight, beginning 3-5 with four of the five losses against unranked teams.
Over the five-game winning streak this month to reserve its fortunes, perhaps no triumph was bigger than the one against the Trojans, handing them their second loss. It was also the Bruins’ fifth consecutive victory over USC, a run that dates back to the 2015-16 season.
“I try to stay really consistent on how I present the games to the team,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “We gotta get better every week. But when you look at the grand scheme of things, this was a really important piece for our start and for our confidence. I always tell the team that you have to earn confidence. You can’t be given confidence. I thought they earned another piece of confidence.”
Sophomore forward Michaela Onyenwere was key for the Bruins, scoring a game-high 27 points and finishing two points shy of her career high. Lindsey Corsaro and Drummer added 11 points and 10 points, respectively.
As the Bruins were behind by a score of 39-28 at halftime, they zeroed in on their defense entering the third quarter.
“We knew that we didn’t play our best defensively,” Onyenwere said. “They were getting whatever they wanted.”
It was why they believed the game turned so quickly.
“It really was taking away right-hand drives, sitting in a stance, forcing jumpers and controlling the boards,” Close said.
USC shot 23.5 percent in the third quarter.
As the Trojans fell to 10-2 overall, their second loss closely mirrored their first loss of the season 11 days earlier at Texas A&M when they were unable to hold onto a four-point halftime lead and were dealt a 71-51 setback.
Trojans coach Mark Trakh lamented poor decision making in the second half, a product
“We really just made some bad decisions that led to fast breaks at the other end,” Trakh said. “We just need to slow down. The first half was perfect. We were under control. We made good decisions. We played good defense.”
Guard Minyon Moore led the Trojans with 18 points and nine assists. Forward Mariya Moore, her older sister, added 14 points.
Both teams travel to the Bay Arena schools later this week to resume conference play.
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