Prudential Center hosted the first-ever Coretta Scott King Classic on Monday. The doubleheader of women’s college basketball was created on Dr. Martin Luther King Day to remember the work Mrs. King pursued and achieved after her husband’s tragic death in 1968.
The games were matchups between four top-25-ranked teams that could both help and hurt each team’s resume for March. The opening game was between No. 25 Baylor and the number one team in the nation, UCLA. The Bruins featured preseason All-American center Lauren Betts, while Baylor came to Newark with a very experienced team that features 11 upperclassmen.
No. 1 UCLA 72, No. 25 Baylor 57
UCLA came out on fire early, jumping to a 13-2 lead after less than three minutes of play. Junior guard Kiki Rice was running the Bruins to precision early, picking up five quick points. Baylor did not help themselves with three turnovers. Baylor turned the tables on UCLA, forcing three turnovers of their own and holding the Bruins scoreless for over four minutes. The Bears went on a 7-0 scoring run to cut the lead to under ten with two minutes left in the first quarter. Even with the runs at different points, both teams ended the quarter struggling from the field as UCLA held a ten-point lead, 19-9.
The turnover bug hit UCLA in the second half. They turned the ball over four times in the second quarter, and Baylor scored ten points on those turnovers. Even with those mistakes, UCLA retained its lead, as they were able to hit big shots right when Baylor was drawing closer.
Betts became a focus for UCLA in the second quarter, picking up five points and six rebounds (three offensive) as the Bruins made her the focus of their offense after a quiet first quarter. However, just like the opening quarter, both teams ended the second quarter not shooting well from the field, which brought the score close at halftime, with UCLA leading 37-29. Rice finished with ten points for the Bruins, while Sarah Andrews scored eight points to lead Baylor.
The third quarter started slowly for both teams, as they struggled to shoot the ball. After a Baylor timeout two minutes into the quarter, the teams played better as the ball movement and shot selection improved. The Bruins continued to turn the ball over, as Baylor forced three turnovers in the first part of the quarter. But again, UCLA overcame shoddy ball handling with tough shots when needed.
Baylor went almost four minutes without a field goal as the Bears began to settle for long-range shots that were not going down. Meanwhile, Betts began to take over in the third, similar to how she took over in the second, scoring six points. Baylor shot just 25 percent from the field in the quarter, as UCLA held a 12-point lead heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was a forgone conclusion. UCLA extended its lead as the Bears continued to shoot poorly in the first quarter. The game slowed down considerably as the Bruins leaned on their All-American Betts and tightened up even more defensively to come out with the win in the day’s first game.
Betts finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and a school-record nine blocks, while Gabriela Jaquez picked up a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
No. 7 Texas 89, No. 8 Maryland 51
The second of the doubleheader featured Texas (No. 7) and Maryland (No. 8) looking to pick up a big non-conference, neutral site win.
Madison Booker came out hot for Texas, scoring nine of the Longhorns’ first 15 points as they jumped out to a 15-5 lead midway through the first quarter. The question became whether Maryland could withstand Texas’ fast start and come back, and in the first quarter, the Terrapins were having trouble keeping up with Vic Schafer’s team.
An offensive rebound putback by Kyla Oldacre extended Texas’ scoring run to 20-3 to take the wind out of the sails of Maryland as they looked for answers on both ends of the floor. Wearing No. 35 like former Longhorn Kevin Durant, Booker looked like the NBA All-Star, scoring 13 points in the first quarter as the Longhorns led 28-12 after one quarter.
Maryland did not recover from the Texas onslaught in the second quarter, but some blame could have gone to the referees, who did not let any call go, calling 19 fouls in the first half. Besides that, Maryland shot an anemic 31 percent from the field, including 0-of-6 from beyond the arc, as they could not get anything going offensively, scoring just six points in the second quarter.
Booker was the story in the first half, scoring 20 in the opening half to lead Texas to a 48-18 lead at halftime in a shocking score. Maryland was led by Edison native Christina Dalce with seven points, but the Terrapins turned the ball over 15 times (one less than their season average), which led to 20 Texas points.
Maryland came out with a new resolve in the second half, keeping up with Texas offensively but not stopping the Longhorns, so no traction was gained to cut the deficit. Texas made their next five shots in a row, extending their lead to 63-28 with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
Maryland did light years better, scoring more in the third quarter than the first two quarters combined, and shot over 78 percent from the field. The problem was that Texas also shot over 60 percent from the field in the quarter. When the Terrapins needed stops on defense, they were not getting them, as the third quarter ended with the Longhorns up by 34 points. The fourth quarter was garbage time as the Longhorns padded their NCAA Tournament resumé with a blowout win over a Top 10 team.
Booker scored 28 points, and Taylor Jones finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. Kaylene Smikle led Maryland with 15 points as Maryland fell for just the second this season.
“For us, it’s just understanding we’re not going to get too high or too low in January, and we’re going to figure it out as we always do,” said Maryland head coach Brenda Frese.
