Bruins Prove Very Elusive Again

The Escape Artists, also known as the UCLA women’s basketball team, brought their act home to Pauley Pavilion and pumped up the drama on Tuesday night.

So now, if you weren’t aware that the Bruins could wiggle out of the tightest of spots, well, they made it two for two in this young season. Fourth-ranked UCLA stayed on the tightrope--barely--as it defeated Texas, 84-77, in overtime.

Michelle Greco kept the Bruins alive with her jumper in the lane to tie the score, 72-72, with .08 remaining in regulation.

Texas, disheartened and dejected, managed only two points in the final 4:15 of overtime. At one point, four of its five players on the floor had four fouls. UCLA outscored Texas, 6-0, in the final 1:15, all of its points coming from the free-throw line.

UCLA (2-0) had a tense season opener against No. 8 North Carolina at Lubbock, Texas, rallying from a four-point deficit with 2:29 remaining. But that was nothing compared to this one.

Texas (1-1) led, 40-27, at halftime and was up by 10 points with 3:06 remaining.

“The seniors have that mentality and the underclassmen just follow their lead,” UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier said. “We can be down 16 with two minutes left and this kid [guard Nicole Kaczmarski] thinks she can pour in eight quick buckets.”

Said Texas Coach Jody Conradt: “It was a hard-fought ball game. We played very well for three quarters of the ball game and all of a sudden we stopped doing the things that got us there. We got pretty tentative on the offensive end and we failed to make decent plays.

“When you’re on the road playing a really good team, you have to make the plays down the stretch and we didn’t do that. Their experience showed and our inexperience showed.

“We got a little down. We showed our disappointment when we didn’t win the game in regulation. ‘We had a defeatist attitude when we got into overtime.”

The Bruins were buoyed by the growing crowd, as the fans arrived early for the men’s game. Maybe that’s why they were deceived by the scoreboard.

“I thought we were winning, I don’t know why,” Olivier said.

Said Kaczmarski: “In some games, you just think no matter what, you’re going to win. I’ve had a lot of games like that in my career.”

The Bruins also survived a standout effort from Texas guard-forward Edwina Brown. Brown, a top-10 preseason candidate for the Naismith National player of the year honors, had a career-high 31 points.

Of course all she could think about was the Greco basket.

“I believe it was my girl who shot at the buzzer and I didn’t do my job,” Brown said. “She had a lot of hands in her face, and she threw something up and it just went in. I could have done a better job.”

Said Greco: “I knew the clock was running down. And I had the ball, so I really didn’t have the chance to really think about it.”

The Bruins were led again by center Janae Hubbard, who had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and guard LaCresha Flannigan, who also had 17 points. Senior forward Maylana Martin, regaining her strength after a long injury-riddled stretch, had 16 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes. The confident Kaczmarski had 12 points and five assists.

The Bruins’ non-conference schedule is unrelenting, as they play host to No. 5 Tennessee next on Sunday.

But reputation and legend does not seem to unnerve these Bruins.

“Maybe because we’re kind of young. they haven’t been around,” said Martin. “They’ve been playing in high school. I know they know about Tennessee, but I don’t think they know the full . . . “

Kaczmarski joined in.

“I don’t think it’s good to think like that,” she said. “It’s like we’re already going into the game 10 points down. We’ve got to think we’re equal or better than them.”