(9) UCLA
Cal Poly Women's Basketball Falls at No. 9 UCLA, 80-64
11/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES — In its second matchup in two weeks against a top-10 Pac-12 opponent, the Cal Poly women's basketball team rallied with a 22-10 fourth quarter at UCLA on Sunday afternoon, but the No. 9-ranked Bruins won 80-64 at Pauley Pavilion.
Mustang junior guard Lynn Leaupepe scored a game-high 22 points, and senior forward Hannah Gilbert added 13 points, eight rebounds and a career-high-tying four steals.
Junior guard Gabby Grupalo also scored 10 points, and senior forward Amanda Lovely had seven points along with nine rebounds.
With her eight boards, Gilbert upped her career rebounding total to 514, moving past Rona Bevien (508 from 1994-98) and Nancy Hosken (510 from 1981-84) for the ninth-most in school history.
The Mustangs, who came into the day No. 1 in the Big West Conference in free-throw shooting at 80 percent (48-for-60), went 16-for-21 from the line.
UCLA established its largest lead of the first quarter at the 2:15 mark on a pair of free throws by Kennedy Burke to make it 19-7, but a layup from Gilbert followed by a free throw by junior guard Dynn Leaupepe cut it to 19-10 at the end of the period.
The Mustangs pulled within 19-13 just 18 seconds into the second quarter on a Lynn Leaupepe three-point play.
UCLA (3-1), following-up a run to the Sweet 16 a year ago, asserted itself from there, going up 37-15 on a 3-pointer by Kari Korver with 3:39 to play to the break, on the way to a 44-22 halftime lead.
Two free throws from Wooden Award candidate Jordin Canada put the Bruins up 50-24 a little more than two minutes into the third quarter, before a Nicole Cornet 3 sent UCLA to the fourth ahead 70-42.
Canada almost finished with a triple-double, with team highs of 19 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Gilbert had seven points during the final period, complemented by six from Lynn Leaupepe and five from Dynn Leaupepe as the Mustangs (1-3) cut the deficit from 28 to 16.
Cal Poly will now return home to host the 10th annual ShareSLO Holiday Tournament, which is free to attend for all fans. The full tournament schedule is listed below:
Friday, Nov. 25
2 p.m. • North Dakota State at Cal Poly
4:30 p.m. • Central Michigan vs. Utah Valley
Saturday, Nov. 26
2 p.m. • North Dakota State vs. Central Michigan
4:30 p.m. • Utah Valley at Cal Poly
The Mustangs are also holding a food drive at the tournament, encouraging fans to bring canned items to Mott Athletics Center for donation to the Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo.
Photo © 2016-2017 David E. Holmes • (For more photos of the team in action, click here.)
