UCLA Women Find a Hero on the Bench

Like a powerless ship, the UCLA women’s basketball team was adrift, out of fuel, seemingly headed for its fourth loss in five games.

But with 8 1/2 minutes remaining and Arizona State threatening to drive the slumping Bruins deeper into the Pacific 10 Conference standings, a most unlikely rescuer appeared from the UCLA bench.

Takiyah Jackson, a former high school All-American sidelined twice by left knee surgeries since coming to UCLA, entered and sparked the No. 20 Bruins to a 56-47 victory over Arizona State Thursday night before 1,163 at Pauley Pavilion.

The victory helped UCLA (14-7, 8-3) join Stanford half a game out of first behind Arizona and Oregon.

With UCLA leading, 40-37, the 6-foot Jackson--eighth on the team in minutes played--took command of the game:

* At 8:35, she scored on a drive to make it 42-37.

* At 7:49, she made two free throws to make it 44-41.

* Seconds later, she earned a midcourt steal and made a difficult layup for a 46-41 lead.

Arizona State (13-9, 6-6), which had forged a 24-24 halftime tie, never really challenged after that.

In fact, the Bruin defense stiffened in the last eight minutes, limiting the Sun Devils to 10 points the rest of the way.

Afterward, Jackson, who had two critical steals in the second half and six points in her 12 minutes, talked about five years of frustration as a Bruin.

“My knee still hurts, but I’ve learned to deal with it,” she said of her surgeries.

“The worst part of it is I lost a lot of my vertical jump, but in a way that helped me because I learned to do things like box out and play defense better.”

Coach Kathy Olivier got another major effort from a reserve, senior center Carly Funicello, who had seven rebounds and three blocked shots in 21 minutes.

Maylana Martin, held to four points in the first half, finished with a game-high 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Of Jackson’s game, Olivier spoke of her anticipation.

“Takiyah reads things really well, she has great anticipation, so I wanted her in there when we went to midcourt traps--that’s when she anticipates so well,” Olivier said.