University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA and West Virginia Square Off for WNIT Championship
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The UCLA women’s basketball team (18-18, 8-10, sixth place in Pac-12) advanced to the finals of the WNIT with a 69-65 win at Michigan (Apr. 1) in the semifinals. The Bruins now travel to Charleston, W.Va., to face the West Virginia Mountaineers (23-14, 7-11, seventh place Big 12) on Apr. 4 at 12:06 p.m. (PT)/3:06 p.m. (ET) at Charleston Civic Center. The Mountaineers have played all five of their WNIT games at home, defeating Buffalo 84-61 in round one (Mar. 19), Hampton 57-39 in round two (Mar. 24), Duquesne 60-39 in round three (Mar. 26), Villanova 75-70 in overtime in the quarters (Mar. 29) and Temple 66-58 in overtime in the semis (Apr. 1).
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Charleston Civic Center
Arena Capacity: 12,500
Date: Saturday, Apr. 4, 2015
Time: 12:06 p.m. (PT)/3:06 p.m. (ET)
TV: CBS Sports Network
Talent: Thad Anderson (play-by-play), Ceal Barry (analyst)
Internet Audio: www.uclabruins.com
Talent: Dave Marcus (play-by-play)
UCLA MENTOR
Head Coach Cori Close is in her fourth year with the Bruins after guiding UCLA to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and a Pac-12 Tournament runner-up finish (2013). She sports an overall record of 71-60 (.542).
SERIES HISTORY
This is just the fourth meeting between UCLA and West Virginia with the Bruins leading the series 2-1. UCLA won the first twp meetings in Los Angeles, posting a 68-57 win in the first meeting (Nov. 26, 1989) and then a 91-76 victory on Nov. 22, 1998. West Virginia won the last meeting, a neutral site game at nearby CSUN (Northridge, Calif.), 63-54 on Nov. 25, 2011. Corinne Costa is the only Bruin to play in that game (four points, three rebounds and one block). The Bruins were led by Atonye Nyingifa’s game-high 19 points while the Mountaineers were led by Taylor Palmer’s 18 points.
NOTABLES
UCLA has not won a postseason tournament of any kind since upsetting Stanford to win the 2006 Pac-10 Tournament. This is UCLA’s first-ever WNIT Tournament appearance. It is also the latest UCLA has ever played a basketball game. Prior to the Bruins’ win at Michigan on April 1, 2015, the previous latest date in any given season was Mar. 26, 1992 when UCLA lost (83-57) to SW Missouri State in the Midwest Regional Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament in Boulder, Colo. Redshirt sophomore guard Kari Korver set a UCLA single season record in three-pointers with 73 on the year (five in the win at Michigan). Senior center Corinne Costa set a UCLA single season record in blocks with 55 on the year (five in the win at Michigan).
YOU CAN COUNT ON US
UCLA has had solid bench production all season, outscoring its opponents in 28-of-36 games. Only Sacramento State (33-23), No. 2 Connecticut (30-21), No. 13 Oregon State (17-15), Oregon (17-9), No. 7 Oregon State (20-18), No. 19 Stanford (38-17), No. 19 Stanford (18-13) and Michigan (16-15) had better bench production. The Bruins’ bench averages 21.8 points per game.
YOUNG GUNS
With just under half of the active UCLA players being freshmen, it is expected that the majority of the Bruins’ production this season would be coming from underclassmen. The seven freshmen are receiving 43.6 percent of the team’s available minutes. Currently, the freshmen are grabbing 40.0 percent of the team’s rebounds, handing out 52.6 percent of the assists and scoring 42.7 percent of the points. The freshmen also lead in steals, registering 47.1 percent and in blocks, swatting 44.3 percent. The freshmen average 28.3 points, 16.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4.0 steals and 2.2 blocks per game.
McDONALD'S ALL-AMERICANS
The UCLA women’s basketball team enters the 2014-15 season with a renewed optimism having signed the program’s first-ever No. 1 recruiting class in the country, featuring three McDonald’s All-Americans (Recee' Caldwell, Jordin Canada and Lajahna Drummer) and five newcomers all ranked in the Top 30 in the country (Kelli Hayes and Monique Billings are the other two standouts in the class). The three incoming McDonald’s selections will join another McDonald’s All-American, junior guard Nirra Fields, giving the Bruins four on the court for the first time in program history.
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Junior guard Nirra Fields was named All-Pac-12 for the second straight year. Jordin Canada was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and to the All-Freshman Team while Monique Billings was named to the Pac-12 Honorable Mention All-Freshman Team.
PAC-12 ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS
Redshirt sophomore guard Kari Korver earned second team Pac-12 All-Academic honors while sophomore guard Dominique Williams picked up honorable mention Pac-12 All-Academic accolades in 2015.
ON THE TUBE
The UCLA Bruins will be making a total of 22 television appearances (20 on the Pac-12 Networks, one on ESPN2 and one on CBS Sports Network) during the 2014-15 regular season. That is up one from the 2013-14 season. The Bruins had 14 in 2012-13 and just four during the 2011-12 campaign. Again this year, UCLA will have the distinction of having the first televised conference game when they travel to USC on Dec. 30, 2014 (6:00 p.m.).