UCLA women must slow down South Florida’s Courtney Williams in second round

Two days after facing a team that didn’t have a player averaging more than 11 points per game, third-seeded UCLA faces a radically different challenge in its second-round NCAA tournament matchup: Slowing down one of the elite scorers in women’s college basketball.

As a top-four seed in the Bridgeport Regional, the Bruins (25-8) will once again play at Pauley Pavilion on Monday night, this time against sixth-seeded South Florida (24-9). The Bulls won their opening-round game against 11th-seeded Colorado State, 48-45, with 31 of those points coming from senior guard Courtney Williams.

“I used to coach at Florida State, and I watched them through the years,” UCLA Coach Cori Close said of the Bulls. “We have respect not just for Courtney Williams, but all of their players and how they play their role. They play great defense and it’s going to be a formidable challenge for us. But this is what we’ve been working for; this is what we’ve been preparing for.”

South Florida was the second-ranked team in the American Athletic Conference, with its Achilles’ heel being the Connecticut Huskies, who beat the Bulls three times between the regular season and the AAC championship.

Williams, referred to as the “Energizer Bunny” by Close, is averaging 22.2 points per game, good for 10th in the NCAA. She’s aided by freshman Kitija Laksa’s 12.6 points per game (and 42.6% from three-point range), along with three other players hovering around 10 points each.

“They have a go-to player, everybody knows the ball is going to go through her,” Close said. “Can you stop it, or can you limit everybody else? I don’t think there’s going to be that many surprises in either direction; I just think it’s going to be which team can adjust to that.”

Senior guard Nirra Fields will draw the assignment of defending Williams. Fields is UCLA’s second-leading scorer this season, and had a team-high 16 points in UCLA’s 66-50 win against 14th-seeded Hawaii.

“That’s what we play for, to play against the best, compete against the best,” Fields said. “I know she’s a great player and I’m a great player as well. I’m confident in that.”

The Bruins will be looking for more out of their top offensive threat, sophomore guard Jordin Canada, who had 10 points and five assists against Hawaii, but was just three for 11 shooting the ball.

“Now that I got the nerves out, I’m much more relaxed and calm,” Canada said. “Obviously, I thought I didn’t have a really great game, but my team has stepped in for me and they’ve done that through the whole season.”

In UCLA’s most recent defeat against Oregon State in the Pac-12 title game, Canada and Fields combined for 20 points, well below their combined season average. Close affirmed that their performance — coupled with keeping Williams in check — will determine whether the Bruins advance past the second round for the first time since 1999.

“I truly believe that great guard play is huge in the NCAA tournament,” Close said. “I think we’ve got great guards and they’ve got great guards, so it’s going to be which ones make good decisions and great plays.”