No. 4 UCLA turns hot start into victory over UC Riverside
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice scored 18 points, Lauren Betts added 14 points with 15 rebounds, and No. 4 UCLA turned a fast start into an easy 90-52 victory over UC Riverside on Thursday night.
Londynn Jones scored 15 points and Charisma Osborne had 13 points with 11 rebounds for the Bruins (2-0), who had nine players see the floor for at least 10 minutes.
The Bruins opened the game on a 20-0 run, shot 52.4% from the field, led the rebounding battle 52-22 and never saw the lead fall under 18 points after the early burst. UCLA has averaged 91.0 points per game in its two victories.
Jordan Webster scored 18 points for UC Riverside (0-2), which fell to 0-9 all time against UCLA and 0-6 on the road in the series. Matehya Bryant scored 11 points with eight rebounds for the Highlanders, who missed their first 14 shots from the field.
UCLA led by double digits four minutes into the game and went up 20-0 with 1:19 remaining in the first quarter before UC Riverside’s Jaden Sanderson made a jumper to end the Highlanders’ early drought.
UC Riverside was much improved in the second quarter, shooting 43.8% from the field while scoring 18 points but trailed 49-20 at halftime.
UCLA was without forwards Emily Bessoir (Germany) and Angela Dugalic (Serbia), who are with their respective national teams through Sunday for FIBA Women’s Eurobasket 2025 qualifiers.
BIG PICTURE
UC Riverside: The undersized Highlanders struggled from the field early before settling into the game. After shooting 24.3% from 3-point range last season, finishing last in the Big West Conference, UCR still has work to do after going 6 of 26 (23.1%) from distance against the Bruins.
UCLA: The Bruins have looked every bit of a top-five team in the country over the first two games, with home games left against Bellarmine and Princeton before a Nov. 24 showdown against UConn at the Cayman Islands Classic.
UP NEXT
UC Riverside: At Boise State on Wednesday.
UCLA: hosts Bellarmine on Sunday.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball