DEPARTMENT OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS WBKB SIDs: Steve Rourke/Liza David (310/206-6831) For Immediate Release Web Page: www.uclabruins.com Nov. 26, 2002 UCLA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TRAVELS TO LAS VEGAS FOR REBEL SHOOTOUT NOV. 30 At Las Vegas Tournament — The Bruins travel this weekend to play in the 2002-2003 Schedule Lady Rebel Shootout in Las Vegas. The Bruins will open the tournament against Date Opponent Time at Site/Result Northwestern State of Louisiana on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. On Sunday, the Bruins 11/9 Love and Basketball(ex.) L 74-77 will play either host UNLV or Texas El Paso. The consolation game of the 11/17 West Coast All-Stars (ex.) W 90-76 tournament is at 1:30 pm, and the championship game is scheduled for 4:00 pm. 11/23 @ Hawaii L 66-70 UCLA then returns home to open up the home slate with a game versus St. Mary's 11/24 Sacramento St. (@ Haw.) W106-43 on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7:00 pm. 11/30 vs.Northwestern St.(@UNLV) 1:30 12/1 vs. UNLV/UTEP 1:30/4:00 Northwestern State finished second in the Southland Conference last season and 12/3 St. Mary's (1150 am) 7:00 advanced on to play in the NWIT after posting a 22-7 record. The Lady Demons 12/6 @ Georgia 7:00 opened the season with a 65-59 win Monday night at Texas A&M. Angela Davidson 12/14 @ Pepperdine 5:00 recorded a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Four players were 12/19 Baylor 7:00 named to the pre-season all-conference team — senior guard La'Terrica Dobin (led 12/21 Cal State Northridge 2:00 12/27 @ Oregon* 7:00 the nation last season in assists, 8.62), Davidson (last year’s conference Player of the 12/29 @ Oregon State* 1:00 Year), senior guard Anna Means and junior forward Katrina Swanigan. The game 1/3 Washington* 7:00 will be the first meeting ever between the two schools. 1/5 Washington State* 2:00 UNLV finished 23-8 last season and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Senior 1/12 USC* (Fox Sports Net) Noon guard Constance Jinks returns after averaging 17.0 ppg last season. The Lady Rebels 1/16 @ Arizona State* 6:00 opened the season with a 68-56 win over St. Mary's. UNLV plays at Cal Poly SLO 1/18 @ Arizona* 2:00 1/24 Stanford* 7:00 on Wed., Nov. 27 UCLA holds a 5-0 advantage in the all-time series with UNLV. 1/26 California* 2:00 Texas-El Paso was 3-25 last season, but has nine new players on the roster. Junior 1/30 @ Washington State* 7:00 college transfer Vaida Zagurskyte, a guard, averaged 23 points in two exhibition 2/1 @ Washington* 1:00 wins. The Lady Miners opened the season with a two-game road trip, posting a 65- 2/8 @ USC* (1150 am) 4:00 49 win at Denver (Nov. 22) and then losing 63-60 at Kansas (Nov. 24). The Bruins 2/14 Arizona* (1150 am) 7:00 have never met UTEP. 2/16 Arizona State* (1150 am) 2:00 2/20 @ California* 7:00 Coach Olivier Returns to Vegas – UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier returns 2/22 @ Stanford* Noon home to her alma mater, UNLV (Class of 1982), this weekend at the Lady Rebel 2/27 Oregon State* 7:00 Shootout. Olivier not only finished her playing career at UNLV (she averaged 16.3 3/1 Oregon* Noon 3/7-10 at Pac-10 Tourn.(San Jose) TBD points as a junior and 20.2 points as a senior), she also began her coaching career there as a grad assistant. All games radio broadcast on internet UCLA tentative starting lineup — (www.uclabruins.com) and KBET 850 am. No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl. PPG RPG Home games in bold. Times are local to site. 1 Natalie Nakase G 5-2 Sr.R 3.5 4.0 ast 20 Michelle Greco G 5-9 Sr.R 19.5 2.0 32 Nikki Blue G 5-8 Fr. 13.0 7.5 ’02 Pac-10 Standings (Final) 35 Jamila Veasley F 6-1 Jr. 1.4 3.1 Team Pac-10 Overall 11 Julia Pitts F 6-2 Fr. 8.0 7.0 Stanford 18-0 32-3 Off the Bench Arizona State 12-6 25-9 Washington 12-6 19-12 00 Ortal Oren G 5-9 Fr. eligible Dec. 1 USC 11-7 16-14 5 Melissa Maurin G 5-6 Sr. 0.0 3.0 Oregon State 11-7 17-15 10 Whitney Jones F 5-10 Jr. returns this week Oregon 10-8 22-13 13 Gennifer Arranaga G 5-6 Jr. 5.0 3.0 Arizona 10-8 14-14 14 Natalie Jarrett F 6-0 Sr. 1.5 3.0 UCLA 4-14 9-20 21 Jalina Bradley G 5-7 Sr. 4.0 3.0 California 2-16 7-21 40 Lisa Willis G/F 5-11 Fr. 16.0 5.5 Washington State 0-18 2-27 44 Emma Tautolo F/C 6-2 Fr. 7.5 4.0 54 Sissy Pickett C 6-7 So. 2.0 1.5 55 Krystle Johnson F/C 6-4 So. 5.0 5.0 pg. 1 of 6 UCLA Splits Season-Opening Set in Hawaii — The Bruins split a pair of For the Record games in Hawaii over the weekend. UCLA lost to Hawaii 70-66 (Nov. 23) and defeated UCLA 80 pts or over 1-0 Sacramento State 106-43 (Nov. 24). Michelle Greco and Lisa Willis led the Bruins UCLA 79 pts or under 0-1 against Hawaii with 20 and 18 points, respectively. Against Sac State, Nikki Blue paced Opp 80 pts or over 0-0 the Bruins with 24 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Greco (19), Willis (14) and Opp under 80 pts 1-1 Pitts (12) also scored in double figures. Greco and Willis each were selected to the all- tournament team. Lead at half 1-1 Tied at half 0-0 The Bruins went over the century mark in scoring for the first time since a 1999 game at Cal State Fullerton (108-75), and the margin of victory (+63) was UCLA's greatest Trail at half 0-0 since defeating UC Santa Barbara by the same margin on Dec. 15, 1984. True freshmen Fg% .500 or better 0-0 players scored 56 of the Bruins points in the win over Sac State. Fg% less than .500 1-1 Bruins Wrap-Up Exhibition Play With Win Vs. West Coast All-Stars Opp Fg% under .450 1-0 — The UCLA women's basketball team closed exhibition play with a 90-76 win over Opp. Fg% btn .450-.500 0-0 West Coast All-Stars on Sunday, Nov. 17. Michelle Greco, with 26 points, and Julia Opp Fg% over .500 0-1 Pitts, with 23 points, led the way for the Bruins. Greco added nine rebounds, five assists Outshooting/tied Opp. 1-0 and three steals while Pitts added 14 rebounds. Outshot by Opp 0-1 Love and Basketball Game Recap — The Bruins fell just short in the 2002-03 UCLA Reb. Adv./Tied 1-0 exhibition opener to Love And Basketball, 77-74. Michelle Greco led UCLA by scoring 12 points. Freshmen Julia Pitts, Nikki Blue and Lisa Willis totaled 11 points Opp. Reb. Advantage 0-1 apiece. UCLA led the game at halftime, 42-40, but Love And Basketball started the second half on a 15-4 run and went on to post the win. With five minutes to play: tie score Jones Rejoins Squad — Two-sport athlete Whitney Jones is a starting midfielder 0-0 and first-team all-conference selection for the UCLA women's soccer team. The UCLA leads 1-0 soccer Bruins lost to Texas A&M in the third round last weekend, and Jones is expected UCLA trails 0-1 to join the basketball team this week. She was UCLA basketball's leading scorer in 2002 with a 9.5 per game average and the top returning rebounder with a 5.2 average. 2002-03 Outlook — Coach Kathy Olivier welcomes back nine letterwinners, ’02-03 Individual Stats including four of the top five scorers, and adds five talented newcomers for the 2002- Double Double (pts/reb) 03 season. Four returning starters are back, as is the 2001 Pac-10 scoring champ Blue (1) Michelle Greco, who is cleared to play after a medical redshirt season a year ago. Senior point guard Natalie Nakase, a starter in the last 58 straight Bruin games, Double Figures (pts) returns after a season in which she improved her scoring average, (4.4 to 7.9), assists Greco (2) average (4.4 to 5.1), rebound average (1.9 to 3.1) and free throw percentage (.500 to Willis (2) .783). Senior guard Jalina Bradley, who has 39 career starts, has improved her scoring Blue (1) average for three straight seasons. Junior forward Whitney Jones led the team in Pitts (1) scoring last season (9.5) and is also the leading returning rebounder (5.2). Junior forward Jamila Veasley, a starter in 18 games last season, is also back. 20-Pt. Scoring Greco, who was averaging 23.6 points per game before going to the sidelines after Greco (1) five games last season, led the Pac-10 in scoring in 2001 (19.9). Doctors recommended Blue (1) that she sit out the remainder of last season upon reviewing test results conducted after mild concussions in her sophomore and junior seasons.