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Monday, December 2, 1996

W. HOOPS:

Disappointing loss in first home game is a learning experienceBy A.CinQue Carter

Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA women's basketball team had its home opener on Friday night. In their second annual meeting with the Texas Tech Lady Raiders (3-0), currently ranked 11th in the nation, the Bruins (1-1) showed true grit but fell short of engineering an upset.

Though Tech battered the Bruins 95-80, UCLA never gave up. They were not only intent on giving the visitors a run for their money, but they also had visions of pulling out the victory.

UCLA faced only a 37-31 deficit at half-time, thanks in large part to a defense that forced 11 turnovers.

Even more encouraging for the Bruins as they looked ahead to the second half was the fact that the Bruins shot an unbecoming 50 percent from the free throw line but were still within striking distance. Solution: improve on free throw percentage for better chances to win.

And UCLA did improve to 69.6 percent from the line in the second half, but they missed three key front ends of one-and-ones. "We missed a lot of our front ends," Bruin head coach Kathy Olivier said. "And we have to make our free throws to stay in the game."

Texas Tech benefited not only from poor Bruin free throw shooting but also from strong second-half performances from Renee Hannebutt and Alicia Thompson.

While Hannebutt scored 15 of her 27 in the second half, Thompson poured in 18 points and pulled eight rebounds in the second half.

"They (Hannebutt and Thompson) were very poised in leading the way," Olivier said after the game.

UCLA found another silver lining, though, in the performance of freshman power forward Maylana Martin. The second half included 23 of Martin's 32 points on 100 percent shooting from the field (8 of 8) and a 70 percent rate from the line (7-10).

Martin's shots were falling from all directions. Teammate sophomore Laura Tomich said, "Maylana (in the second half) realized she's unstoppable. She just needs that confidence from (the beginning of the game)."

"They just kept getting it into me," Martin said. "And I (converted) just like Coach Olivier told me."

Martin's high school coach, Marvin Williams, said of her second half performance, "She was making it look like she was still in high school, where she dominated."

Another plus for UCLA was a competitive showing against a top-ranked team. The Bruins were as close as 77-72 on junior Aisha Veasley's lay-up on a Jackson assist with 4:47 to play.

"They're the number (11) team in the nation," Martin said. "I think (tonight) we showed teams that we're not to be laughed at. We showed them we can play, and I just can't wait to see how good we're going to be."

Still, other Bruins like freshman center Carly Funicello refused to see the loss as a moral victory.

"I know we could've won," Funicello said. "We've got to work on our turnovers and our free throws. And we've got to get in our swing from the three-point line."

UCLA was 6 of 15 from three-point land, 16-23 from the line and had 19 turnovers.

Takiyah Jackson felt the same way.

"I feel bad because we should've won," Jackson said. "We were trading baskets the whole time when we should've been pulling away. We have to learn how to stay in it at the end."

GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin

Maylana Martin scored 32 points against Texas Tech on Friday, but UCLA came up short with a 95-80 loss.