If No. 5 UCLA needed a dress rehearsal for their upcoming battle with No. 1 South Carolina, they couldn’t have asked for a better one than they had against Arkansas this past Sunday.
In routing their opponents, the Bruins outrebounded them 65-27, while dishing 22 assists and committing just 11 turnovers. Lauren Betts, Angela Dugalic and Janiah Barker each had double-doubles, while Timea Gardiner scored a team-high 23 points. None of the nine who took the floor logged more than 27 minutes, highlighting the team’s depth and efficiency.
Unlike their first three games of the season, in which they overcame some slow starts and stutter-steps, the win over the Razorbacks was a complete start-to-finish effort in which the UCLA offense seemed to flow effortlessly. Dugalic, a starter who missed the previous two games in Europe at FIBA qualifiers for Serbia, said the win was a boost for all.
“This gives us a lot of confidence,” she said. “We’ve been building it slowly, and we did it today. Everyone was moving, scoring and rebounding, whether on offense or defense. It was a total team effort – players and coaches included.”
The Bruins were bolstered by the return of junior point guard Kiki Rice, who had…
