UCLA Gets Revenge Against USC

After practice Friday at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA’s Erica Gomez approached Coach Kathy Olivier.

“These last five games, starting Saturday, I’m taking my game to the next level, you watch,” she said.

Talk about calling your shot.

Gomez, a 5-foot-9 freshman point guard, had a triple-double, UCLA’s first since 1978, and Olivier’s team did something no Bruin team had done in five seasons, beating USC, 80-64, before 3,921 at Pauley.

Gomez finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Nickey Hilbert, a junior guard, matched a career high with 33 points on 12-for-18 shooting.

It was the first victory for UCLA (11-12 overall, 6-8 in the Pacific 10) over USC (11-12, 6-8) since 1991.

“We had a great week of practice,” Oliver said. “We had tough scrimmages against guys all week and we really focused on not letting Tina [Thompson] kill us again.”

Thompson had 49 points and 15 rebounds in a 96-77 USC victory last month. On Saturday, the Pac-10’s No. 2 scorer was limited to 20 points and seven rebounds. USC freshman guard Erica Mashia had 24 points, but no other Trojan contributed more than four points.

The lead changed hands 13 times in the first half, but Veasley’s tip-in gave the Bruins a 34-33 lead at the break.

Then Gomez took over.

She made a shot from the corner on the half’s first play, then got another minutes later. In between, Tawana Grimes made two free throws and Kristich scored on a drive.

That put UCLA ahead, 44-33, and the Bruins were never seriously challenged again.