Bruins Wake Up in Time for Victory

UCLA survived a brief Wisconsin Green Bay storm early in the second half and beat the Phoenix, 76-69, in a first-round NCAA tournament game before 2,390 at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night.

The Bruins (24-7) play Kentucky (21-10) Monday night at Pauley, hoping to join the round of 16 at the NCAA West Regional tournament next weekend at the Sports Arena.

UCLA recovered from an early second-half lull, after building an 18-point halftime lead.

Wisconsin Green Bay came out far more animated than was their first-half showing, when they seemed slower afoot and unable to compete inside with the bigger, stronger Bruins.

And Chari Nordgaard, the Phoenix’s leading scorer who was bottled up for most of the first half, was suddenly open inside, driving for easy baskets, and her teammates were suddenly running the court as swiftly as the Bruins.

Nordgaard scored twice in the first two minutes of the second half and led an 18-9 run. When she scored underneath with 11:52 left, Wisconsin Green Bay had shaved UCLA’s big lead to 51-42, and Coach Kathy Olivier called time out and pulled her center, Maylana Martin, for a brief rest.

Then, UCLA’s rising star, 5-7 sophomore guard LaCresha Flannigan, made three huge plays in a 10-0 run in the middle of the second half.

She scored on an 18-footer, then intercepted an inbounds pass at midcourt and scored on a breakaway with 9:01 to go. And when she pitched in another three-point shot at 8:44, UCLA had a 60-46 lead.

UCLA put together one of its best runs of the season over the last four minutes of the first half to take a 42-24 halftime lead.

The Bruins outscored Wisconsin Green Bay, 13-0, over that span and 20-6 over the last six minutes.

The Phoenix, which came in with 15 consecutive victories in the Midwest Collegiate Conference, started off by putting its top gun, 6-1 Nordgaard, down low with UCLA’s 6-3 Martin.

Nordgaard didn’t get a shot off the first 7 1/2 minutes, so she was moved outside for the remainder of the half, where she exhibited outstanding passing skills.

UCLA was sparked early by junior Erica Gomez, who had two three-point baskets in the half, the first coming two minutes into the game.

The second made the score 25-18 for UCLA with 6:18 to go and launched the big closing first-half spurt.

Gomez fed Janae Hubbard with a great baseline pass for a 27-20 lead. Seconds later Nordgaard made her first basket of the first half, with 4:41 to go, for 27-22.

Then Gomez, from the top of the key, fed Martin, who scored inside for a 29-22 lead. Soon after that, UCLA was unstoppable:

* Gomez found Hubbard again underneath for 31-24.

* Hubbard got a putback at 2:35 for 33-24 and Gomez added a drive down the paint and a free throw for 36-24.

In the final 1:45 before the break, the Phoenix committed three turnovers and UCLA scored on every one of them.