UCLA’s Women Are All Business

The No. 17-ranked UCLA women’s team, in its best 40 minutes of basketball this season, put USC’s inside players through a grinder and clamped down the Trojans’ perimeter shooters to romp to an 82-62 Pacific 10 Conference victory Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion.

Easy, but not effortless.

The Bruins outhustled and outworked their cross-town rivals in extending their win streak over USC to five games. In a game that drew a crowd of 7,787, UCLA (9-4 overall, 3-0 in the Pac-10) put USC (7-6, 2-1) away with a 16-3 run to start the second half and continued its high-energy game into the final minute when Coach Kathy Olivier could see two starters getting floor burns, diving for a loose ball.

Inside, UCLA seniors Janae Hubbard (6 feet 4) and Maylana Martin (6-3) were in command, from the game’s first minutes. Martin had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Hubbard added 19 points and nine rebounds, and they combined to give USC few second-shot chances.

Outside, defenders Erica Gomez, Nicole Kaczmarski (18 points, four steals) and reserves Michelle Greco and LaCresha Flannigan limited USC’s vaunted three-point shooters to a two-for-10 day, including an 0 for 5 pinned on the Trojans’ chief long threat, Erica Mashia.

“They looked like a senior-dominated team and we looked like a bunch of young kids who just got together this year, and that’s really what it was,” USC Coach Chris Gobrecht said. “We had six new players playing key roles today. But honestly, even at that, I’m really disappointed at how we played. UCLA outhustled us, and my reaction to that was: ‘Whoa! We get outhustled in a game where we’re the underdog?’ We have to question ourselves, after this.”

The Trojans trailed by five, 40-35, at the break, but were already being routinely screened off their offensive board by Martin, Hubbard and Marie Philman, and USC had 15 turnovers by halftime.

Said senior Danielle Golay, who led USC with 20 points: “I couldn’t believe we were only down five at the half.”

For Olivier, UCLA’s poor nonconference defensive efforts against Louisiana Tech and Connecticut were a distant memory. The Bruins set the tone with a highly aggressive man-to-man defense that forced turnovers and picked up USC’s long-range shooters, chiefly Mashia, when they were anywhere near the three-point stripe.

“Our perimeter defense was great,” Olivier said. “Especially Greco and Flannigan, coming off the bench. Our guards can defend with anyone in the conference.”

Hubbard--who came to UCLA four years ago as a 300-pound project who has since shed more than 100 pounds--had one of her best games.

She began the second half by scoring the Bruins’ first five points for a 45-35 UCLA lead and later put back a Martin miss with 13:38 to go for a 56-38 Bruin edge.

By game’s end, Hubbard was still running the floor with astonishing strength.

“I put in extra effort in practice all week, and it paid off,” she said.

The 16-3 run to start the second half was an inside Bruin symphony. As Golay said: “It seemed like we were screening them off inside, but at the last second they were going around us.”

Martin’s 20 points pushed her past Natalie Williams into third place on the UCLA career scoring list, with 1,817 points.

Another senior, point Erica Gomez, although only one for six from the floor, had a solid game, with six assists in 35 minutes.

The victory was UCLA’s fourth consecutive since the Bruins were routed, 106-64, by No. 1 Connecticut last month.

The Bruins and Trojans play at Arizona and Arizona State in the upcoming weekend.