LOS ANGELES, Calif. The University of Nevada women’s basketball team dropped its second straight game, falling on the road at UCLA, 62-47. With the loss, the Pack fell to 4-5 on the year while UCLA improved to 6-1.
The Pack opened the game scoring first as Brandi Jones scored on a reverse layup but UCLA went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-2 lead with 14:30 remaining in the first half.
UCLA extended its lead to 15-4 with 12:15 left in the first half before going ahead 21-8 with 7:56 remaining. The Pack was held without a field goal for over four minutes, from Criner’s field goal with 13:57 left until Jones scored on a fast-break layup with 9:23 remaining.
Nevada cut UCLA’s lead to 23-12 with 3:47 left in the first half and cut the lead to 10, 24-14, on a layup by Marianne Lombardi before UCLA went into halftime leading 28-15.
The Pack shot 16.7 percent (4-of-24) from the floor in the first half while the Bruins shot 29.7 percent (11-of-37) from the floor. Criner led Nevada at halftime with seven points while Erica Tukiainen led UCLA at the half with seven points.
In the second half the Pack cut the Burins’ lead to eight, 31-23, on a three-point play by Johnna Ward and a field goal by Jones with 18:31 left in the game.
Jones’ shot with 17:10 left in the game pulled Nevada to within six, 33-27 but UCLA used a 23-6 run to go ahead 52-35 with 8:05 left in the game.
Nevada ended the game shooting 25.5 percent (13-of-51) while UCLA shot 37.5 percent (24-of-64) from the floor. The Bruins, who came into the game leading the nation in rebounding average of 18 rebounds per game over its opponents, outrebounded the Pack 54-34.
Jones led all scorers with 16 points while Criner added 13. Shavon Moore grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, one off of her career high of 10.
Nevada will face Santa Clara in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, December 18 at 7 p.m. The Pack will return to Lawlor Events Center on Sunday, December 21 to take on UC Riverside at 2 p.m.
