Jones and Osborn lead No. 8 UCLA to 87-70 win over Cal
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freshman Londynn Jones had 18 points and Charisma Osborne added 17 to lead No. 8 UCLA to 87-70 win over Cal on Sunday.
UCLA star freshman Kiki Rice had a double double with 15 points and a career-high 12 assists.
The Bruins (15-3, 4-2 Pac-12) trailed by as many as 12 points in the first quarter but came back. Cal (10-7, 1-5) played well on the road but couldn’t finish.
Rice had eight rebounds - two rebounds shy of a triple double. The double double was the first of her career.
“They were knocking down shots so I just wanted to keep feeding the hot shooters,” Rice said. “Charisma came out shooting super well, Emily (Bessoir), Londynn. I felt like we were executing and getting open so I just wanted to make those passes.”
It was a close game until the fourth quarter when UCLA, trailing by two points, went on a 12-2 run to lead 78-65 and put the game away.
“I’ll have to watch but we just got blitzed in the last three minutes with turnovers trying to get into some action stuff we wanted to execute,” said Cal coach Charmin Smith. “They turned those turnovers into points in transition. We knew we couldn’t turn it over. That was tough.”
Osborne suffered an ankle injury early in the game. She walked off the court with assistance and went straight to the locker room, but she returned later in the first quarter. The Bruins went down by 12 without her. Claudia Langarita made a layup for the 17-5 Cal lead.
Kemery Martin had a game-high 23 points for the Bears and her five 3-pointers tied a career-high.
The Bears made 9 of 12 shots in the first quarter.
Martin made her first eight field goals in the game and was 5 of 5 from 3-point range. Her first miss came at 6:50 in the third quarter on a 10-foot jumper.
With the Bruins down by 12, they went on a 18-6 run to tie the game at 23 on an Osborne layup. Osborne had seven points in that instrumental run.
“Show me a better guard defender in the country,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “You’re not going to find it. I was more worried about getting defensive stops. I knew we’d get offensive stuff but without Charisma I knew it would put pressure on our defense and that’s the thing that people don’t talk enough about with Charisma.”
UCLA had just come off a solid game but still a loss to No. 2 Stanford at home on Friday. The Bruins were cold early in the early game but took a 5-point lead in the second quarter and then trailed 38-36 at halftime.
Cal’s Jayda Curry made a 3-pointer for the 39th consecutive game, moving her into sole possession of second place in Pac-12 history.
NO-LOOK FUN
Late in the fourth quarter, Osborne made a crowd-pleasing no-look, behind-the-back pass to a trailing Lina Sontag who made the transition layup.
“I actually practice those passes before the game,” Osborne said. “I saw (a defender) coming over and I thought, ‘hey, this is the time to try it.’ ”
BIG PICTURE
Cal: The Golden Bears had a great first quarter on the road and played well for three quarters but need to work on finishing in the fourth quarter.
UCLA: The Bruins saw what less than a quarter looked like without Osborne. They surely appreciate her even more after that little scare.
UP NEXT
UCLA: Plays at Washington on Friday.
Cal: Plays at Colorado on Friday.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
