Osborne leads No. 5 UCLA past UW
SEATTLE – Charisma Osborne scored 21 points, Michaela Onyenwere added 15 and No. 5 UCLA hammered Washington 84-50 on Sunday.
Osborne, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, reached 20 points for the seventh straight game as the Bruins (11-3, 9-3 Pac-12) sent the Huskies (4-10, 1-10) to their eighth straight loss. UCLA also got 14 points from Emily Bessoir in a near-perfect shooting night.
UCLA has now won six of its last seven after losing for the first time in 2021 at Washington State on Friday. It was the first time the Bruins had played two scheduled games in a weekend since Dec. 19 and 21 due to the pandemic.
“Every game tells me something and right now, when you’re in February, you better be going in the correct direction and you don’t have time to take steps back,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I’m glad we were able to get through two games in a weekend with how beat up we are. I mean literally we only have four players that practice on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and so it’s really challenging.
The Bruins ran out to a 37-16 halftime advantage with Bessoir scoring nine straight at one point and led by as much as 28 early in the second half, using its defense to stifle the Huskies.
“I was much more pleased with the way we took away what Washington’s first and second looks are, both individually and their tendencies, but also their team things that they want to do,” Close said. “I thought we were much better at that.”
Washington shot just 8 of 30 from the floor (26.7 percent) and missed all 11 of its 3-point shot attempts in the first half. The Huskies also committed 21 turnovers in the loss.
“They were the aggressor,” Huskies coach Jody Wynn said.