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Tuesday, Nov. 23 9:00pm ET
Bruins go OT to survive Texas | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- UCLA's Maylana Martin usually dominates games, but she was nearly invisible until the final 11 minutes against Texas. Trailing nearly the entire game, the fourth-ranked Bruins rallied to beat the Longhorns 84-77 in overtime Wednesday night and win a home opener for the first time in four years. "God, I was loving that," UCLA coach Kathy Olivier exulted after her team defeated Texas for the fourth straight time. Martin scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half and the five-minute overtime, when UCLA outscored Texas 12-5. She four free throws in overtime as all five starters reached double figures. "We never gave up," Olivier said. "As ugly as the first half was, I have to give credit to May. She wants the shots and she was missing the shots, but she wanted the ball." Edwina Brown, the team's lone senior, scored a career-high 31 points for the Longhorns (1-1). Freshman Alisha Sare added a career-high 13 points and JoRuth Woods had 12 points and 12 rebounds. LaCresha Flannigan and Janae Hubbard led UCLA (2-0) with 17 points each and Hubbard added 13 rebounds. The Bruins were in trouble much of the game, trailing by 13 at halftime and down by 10 twice in the final six minutes of regulation. That's when Flannigan, Martin, Marie Philman and Michelle Greco went to work, outscoring Texas 20-8 down the stretch after all four struggled in the first half. Philman and Greco were scoreless at halftime, while Martin and Flannigan had two points each. "We played well for three-quarters of the game, then we stopped doing things that go us there, like boxing out and rebounding," Texas coach Jody Conradt said. "On the road against a good team we have to make the plays down the stretch. UCLA's experience shut down our inside game." The Bruins erased a 10-point deficit in the final three minutes with 10 straight points, including four by Martin. They tied the game at 70 on a free throw by Philman, who missed the second foul shot with 41 seconds left. Brown went up under the basket and scored for a 72-70 lead with two seconds left. That set the stage for Greco's tying basket from the top of the key off a pass from freshman Nicole Kaczmarski with less than a second remaining to force overtime. "It's my girl that got the shot at the buzzer," Brown said of Greco. "I didn't do my job even though we had hands in her face." In overtime, Asha Hill hit a jumper and Woods made the first of two free throws to give Texas a 75-73 lead. Flannigan hit two free throws for the game's final tie at 75. Martin made one of two free throws and Flannigan followed with a jumper as UCLA led 78-75 with 2:43 left. Brown scored the last basket for Texas that drew the Longhorns within one with 1:17 left. "I think we got down mentally after not winning in regulation," Conradt said. "We need more balanced scoring, even though you saw one of the best players in the country, Edwina Brown." The final minute was filled with mistakes by the Longhorns. Tracy Cook missed two baskets, Woods was called for a double dribble, Brown missed as Greco scrambled on the floor to come up with the rebound and then Texas turned the ball over out of bounds. "We started to give them some easy opportunities. We started to foul and we didn't need to," Conradt said. "We took some quick shots and didn't make them." The Bruins ended the game by making five straight trips to the line, going 5-of-10 to secure their second straight come-from-behind win. They beat No. 8 North Carolina in their season opener. UCLA scored the first six points of the second half to close within seven, but Brown reeled off six straight points to restore the Longhorns' 13-point lead. Kaczmarski, who was the nation's top prep player last year and now starts at guard, launched nine straight points by the Bruins with a jumper and capped it with a 3-pointer that got them within four with 14:13 remaining. | ALSO SEE Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
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