No. 8/9 UCLA Falls on the Road to No. 16/17 Arizona

Friday, January 31

Tucson, AZ

5:00 PM

UCLA

18-2,7-2Pac-12

Arizona

17-3,6-3Pac-12

UCLA

Arizona

Junior Michaela Onyenwere led the Bruins with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Photo by: UCLA Athletics

No. 8/9 UCLA Falls on the Road to No. 16/17 Arizona

January 31, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: UCLA Athletics

TUCSON, ARIZ. – No. 8/9 UCLA women's basketball fell, 92-66, to No. 16/17 Arizona on Friday evening at McKale Center. The Bruins took their second loss of the year, moving to 18-2 (7-2), while the Wildcats won their fourth-straight Pac-12 matchup to improve to 17-3 (6-3).

Junior Michaela Onyenwere and freshman Charisma Osborne led the Bruins in scoring, putting up 17 and 14 points, respectively. Onyenwere added 12 rebounds to record her fifth double-double of the season.

Arizona benefited from strong scoring nights from Aari McDonald and Sam Thomas, who put up 27 and 20 points, respectively. McDonald, the Pac-12's leading scorer, registered her fourth 25+ point performance of the year.

The Wildcats got off to a hot start in the first quarter, going 6-for-6 from the floor and 3-for-4 from the line to jump out to a 17-6 lead at the 5:21 mark in the opening frame. After a timeout from Michael Price Family UCLA Head Women's Basketball Coach Cori Close, junior Onyenwere hit a jumper in the lane for her second bucket of the game, but Arizona's McDonald answered back-to-back three-pointers to extend the Wildcats' lead to 15 (2:40). After an exchange of buckets, Natalie Chou grabbed the board off her own miss and converted the lay-in to cut the score to 27-16 at the end of the first. McDonald was brilliant in the opening quarter, putting up 14 points on 5-for-6 from the field. Onyenwere led the Bruins with eight points and two boards.

The teams opened the quarter with an exchange of three-balls with freshman Charisma Osborne knocking down her first three at the 9:21 mark. The Wildcats continued to pour it on from beyond the arc, as a pair of long balls from Sam Thomas extended Arizona's lead to 38-22 at the media timeout (4:29). With the score 40-24, McDonald rattled off four-straight points before Osborne converted a three-point play to make it a 17-point with 2:02 left in the half. Freshman Jaden Owens capped the half with a three-pointer with nine seconds to play and sent UCLA to the locker room down 47-32. Osborne (12 points) and Onyenwere (10) each reached double figures in the half for the Bruins.

UCLA took the first four points of the third quarter on buckets from Lauryn Miller and Onyenwere, with the Bruins eventually cutting the deficit to 49-37 (9:01). The Wildcats, however, would answer with a quick 9-0 run before a pair of Onyenwere free throws halted the stretch (6:06). After a McDonald transition bucket and a couple free throws from Osborne, Cate Reese drained a long ball to extend Arizona's lead to 66-43 (2:31). UCLA would trail 70-48 heading into the fourth.

The Bruins would, ultimately, struggle to cut into the deficit in the fourth quarter and the final score would solidify at 92-66. Freshmen Brynn Masikewich and Camryn Brown each recorded career-highs with four points in the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT
The Bruins finish up their road trip against N0. 19/20 Arizona State on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. MT/11:00 a.m. PT. Pac-12 Networks will be on the television call and Dave Marcus will handle radio play-by-play at ucla.leanplayer.com. The Bruins secured a 68-66 home victory over the Sun Devils on Jan. 3.