No. 14/20 UCLA Uses a Pair of Double-Digit Runs to Get Past CSUN

LOS ANGELES—A pair of double-digit runs helped No. 14/20 UCLA get past CSUN as the Bruins defeated the Matadors 73-46 in women's basketball action Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.

After a quick 8-5 start in favor of the Bruins, both teams went cold as the teams went scoreless for over three minutes. A pair of Jaelynn Penn free throws out of the media timeout broke the drought. The Matadors mounted a 6-0 charge that resulted in CSUN tying the game at 11 with 2:19 to go in the first quarter and forced a UCLA timeout. A Tess Amundsen three-pointer with just over a minute remaining gave the Matadors the lead for the first time. Rachel Harvey's three-pointer made it a 10-0 run, earning CSUN a six-point lead. CSUN ended the opening 10 minutes by outscoring UCLA 12-3 and led 17-13.

The Bruins cut the lead to two early in the second before a Meghann Henderson three-pointer extended the advantage to 22-17 at the 6:45 mark. Amundsen's second three-pointer of the half pushed the lead to 25-19.

Trailing 26-21 with 4:57 to play in the first half, the Bruins kept CSUN (0-5 from the floor) off the scoreboard for the remainder of the opening frame as UCLA outscored the Matadors 13-0 to end the first half and take an eight-point advantage into halftime.

CSUN broke the run with a Kayanna Spriggs basket three minutes into the third quarter. The Matadors kept chipping away, trailing 39-32 at the media timeout. Spriggs' free throws out of the timeout made it a five-point game. Chantel Horvat responded with a three-point play on the ensuing UCLA possession. The Bruins outscored the Matadors 13-2 (IImar'I Thomas posting eight of the points) over the final 4:19 to lead 52-36 after 30 minutes. UCLA would outscore CSUN 21-10 in the fourth.

After CSUN connected on 10 of its first 20 field goal attempts, the Bruins held the Matadors to 7-of-27 for the remainder of the game. UCLA outrebounded 40-23. Both teams turned the ball over 19 times. Thomas went 10-of-14 from the field on her way to a game-high 21 points. Charisma Carpenter scored 12 of her 19 points in the first half. Amundsen led CSUN with nine points.

ACCORDING TO INTERIM HEAD COACH CARLENE MITCHELL
"I am extremely proud of team. Three months into this, you want the team to buy in and compete and we are doing that. We lacked a couple of critical pieces and against a Pac 12 team, that has a lot of athletes and size, they were able to exploit the advantages. A lot of our problems tonight were self-inflicted. The turnovers, the missed box outs, and the rebounds were the difference in the game. We can't go three or four minutes without scoring against team as good as UCLA."

CSUN (1-2) travels to Fresno State (3-0) Tuesday night. The stream via the Mountain West Network begins at 6 p.m. All links will be available on GoMatadors.com.

NOTES
CSUN led for over nine minutes in the first half…Thursday's game marked the 33rd time the Matadors faced a nationally ranked opponent since moving to the Division I level in time for the 1990-91 season…Thursday was the 12th time CSUN and UCLA have played women's basketball…the Bruins lead the all-time series 11-1…Thursday marked the beginning of a three-game road trip for CSUN to end the month of November…all three games (UCLA, Fresno State, Texas), are against teams that played in the 2021 women's basketball postseason.

~#UniteTheValley~

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Team Stats

Tess Amundsen

Rachel Harvey

Anaiyah Tu'ua

Jordyn Jackson

Players Mentioned

Tess Amundsen

Rachel Harvey

Meghann Henderson

Kayanna Spriggs