UCLA looks to keep pressure on USC in women’s basketball rivalry

The UCLA women’s basketball team is no stranger to working around injuries. After all, they reached the NCAA Tournament last season with eight available players on most nights.

On Thursday, the Bruins overcame the challenge of having just seven available players in a 66-43 win over USC and have a chance to repeat the success in a rematch Sunday night at Galen Center.

Guard Gina Conti and forward Emily Bessoir are among those who haven’t played a game this season and more recently, Jaelynn Penn, the team’s third-leading scorer, was ruled inactive due to a hand injury. No update was provided for Penn’s availability ahead of Sunday’s game.

“They were like, Coach, we feel really bad for Jaelynn, and it’s just such a hard thing for her,” coach Cori Close said after Thursday’s win. “But in terms of our team, we’re fine. We’ll be ready.”

UCLA’s IImar’I Thomas led all players with 20 points and made 9 of 14 shots. Charisma Osborne added 11 points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

“I was supposed to act as if I was the best point guard ever, so that’s what I was trying to do,” Osborne said.

The Bruins (8-4, 3-1 Pac-12) outshot the Trojans 42.4% to 27.6%. However, USC won the rebound battle, 46-32. The Women of Troy rank third in the Pac-12 in terms of total rebounds, while UCLA is 11th and second to last in the conference.

Jordyn Jenkins pulled down 11 rebounds for USC (9-6, 2-3 Pac-12) in Thursday’s game and added 17 points for a double-double.

“At this point, I kind of expect her to almost have double-doubles,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb of Jenkins. “And I think we can all be better. And so what I saw out there is that it’s still our players and we’re still wearing this uniform, so I know we can be better.”

It was Gottlieb’s first game against UCLA as head coach at USC. She came to the Trojans after spending two years as an assistant coach for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and brings a determination to get the Trojans to the NCAA Tournament, starting with beating UCLA.

To do that, there’s an emphasis on minimizing turnovers. USC committed 27 against the Bruins on Thursday.

“I think their pressure bothered us,” Gottlieb said. “We weren’t able to make a play from really any position on the floor or execute very well. So that combination is not good and that led to not just turnovers, but bad shots.”