Indiana women’s basketball suffered its second straight defeat Sunday, ending its West Coast trip with a 92-48 loss to No. 2 UCLA at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Despite missing the Hoosiers’ contest against USC on Thursday due to a rolled ankle, senior guard Shay Ciezki returned to the starting lineup against the Bruins. In her return, however, Indiana’s leading scorer ended two points in seven minutes. She landed awkwardly seven minutes into the first quarter and didn’t return to the game.
Both offenses started off the game slowly, with Indiana scoring its first basket of the game almost three minutes in. UCLA started to pull away as the first quarter progressed, scoring eight straight points to increase its lead to double-digits with two minutes left in the first quarter.
Redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont ended Indiana’s nearly five-minute scoreless streak with a three-pointer, and sophomore guard Phoenix Stotijn struck from beyond the arc as well to cut the Bruins’ lead to seven points to end the first quarter.
UCLA scored nine straight points to starts the second quarter, taking a 26-10 lead. Indiana’s offense struggled to generate offensive production, taking three and a half minutes to score its first points of the second period.
The Bruins’ offense continued to chug along without any hiccups, increasing its lead to 20 points with just over three minutes left in the half. UCLA kept up the pressure, eventually entering halftime with a 47-20 advantage.
Freshman forward Maya Makalusky led Indiana with eight points at the break, with Beaumont just behind her at seven points.
Entering the second half with less than half of UCLA’s points total, Indiana was on the verge of its worst loss of the season. It continued to get worse as the third quarter progressed, with the Bruins increasing their lead to more than 30 while the Hoosiers scored just one point in the first four minutes of the quarter.
UCLA continued to score with ease, increasing its lead to more than 40 points. By the end of the third quarter, the Bruins held a 76-34 lead.
Entering the fourth quarter, both benches emptied out onto the floor with the result all but confirmed. In the end, Indiana suffered its worst defeat of the season, falling 92-48.
Indiana returns to Bloomington to play its first of two final home games, taking on Oregon at 1 p.m. Feb. 22 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The match will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Max Schneider (maxschn@iu.edu) and columnist Sean McAvoy (@sean_mc07 and semcavoy@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
