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James Madison
No. 23 UCLA Drops Season Opener at JMU in Overtime, 91-87
November 14, 2014 | Women's Basketball
HARRISONBURG, Va. – No. 23 UCLA dropped its season-opener at James Madison, 91-87, in overtime on Friday afternoon at JMU's Convocation Center.
Junior guard Nirra Fields had a game-high 26 points and added six rebounds, three steals and one block to lead UCLA.
The Bruins came out cold, shooting just 2-for-11 (.182) from the field in the first nine minutes of the game. But the Bruins closed out the rest of the half sinking 10-for-15 from the floor (.667) to build a 40-28 lead by halftime.
Fields would open the second half with a jumper to give the Bruins their largest lead of the game at 14 points (42-28). But JMU slowly chipped away at UCLA's advantage and would retake the lead on a jumper by Precious Hall at 57-56 with 8:28 to go.
The Dukes would lead by as many as four points (66-62, 5:28) before the Bruins would come back to force three ties and three lead changes down the stretch. Fields hit a big three-pointer with 0:47 remaining in regulation to break a 72-72 tie. UCLA was whistled for a foul and JMU's Lauren Okafor made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to cut it to 75-73 (0:33). Then the Bruins got careless with the ball and threw it away with 0:22 remaining. Another Bruin foul would put Hall back at the line and she calmly sank both to tie it at 75-75 with 0:08 to go. Jordin Canada's last-second three-pointer drew iron to send it to overtime.
James Madison took conrtol early in the overtime period, racing out to an 84-79 lead (2:22). The Bruins battled back and Canada's pair of free throws cut the JMU lead to one at 86-85 (0:49). But the Bruins missed four of their last five shots down the stretch.
In all, five UCLA players fouled out of the contest (Kacy Swain - 5:28; Kari Korver - 0:33; Lajahna Drummer - 0:08.4; Luiana Livulo - 0:35.8 (OT) and Fields - 0:21 (OT)).
Canada was solid in her collegiate debut with a double-double of 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Drummer, another freshman, just missed a double-double with 15 points and nine boards. Drummer was perfect from the free throw line (11-for-11). Korver was solid in her return with nine points and three rebounds, but was scoreless in the second half.
Hall led five JMU players in double figures with 25 points. Okafor completed a double-double with 16 points and a game-high 16 rebounds
For the game, UCLA shot 42.4 percent from the floor (25-for 59) while holding JMU to 35.1 percent shooting (27-for-77). The Bruins outrebounded JMU 46-42, but the Dukes had 23 offensive rebounds and won the turnover battle, 26-13.
UCLA returns to action on Nov. 16 in Chapel Hill, N.C., when they face No. 13 North Carolina at 11:00 a.m. (PT)/2:00 p.m. (ET).
Women's basketball season tickets are on sale at the UCLA Central Ticket Office (310-UCLA-WIN). For more ticket information, or to buy tickets now, click here.
