Under Pressure

Trying. To. Accomplish. Something. Under. Extreme. Pressure. Is. Not. Easy.
It feels just like that - stunted, disjointed, frustrating.
The North Carolina State Wolf Pack are probably still biting their nails after the pressure that the UCLA women's basketball team put on them in their NCAA Tournament first-round matchup on Sunday

The Bruins clamped down on the Wolf Pack with three minutes left in the first half, taking a one-point lead into halftime. And then the real pressure started.

Eighth-seeded UCLA blitzed the Wolf Pack in the second half with a maniacal trap defense, holding N.C. State to 33 percent shooting and 6-of-21 from long range, and cruising into the second round to face top-seed Nebraska with a 74-54 win.

The Bruins think it could've been more.

"Honestly, I think we could've won by more," said UCLA forward Jasmine Dixon, who led the team with 17 points and 11 rebounds. "We started off so jittery. We had butterflies. But coming into the tournament and winning by such a large number has given us a lot of confidence. We can hang with the top players."

They know that because they played so well on Sunday.

They know that because they've won 11 of 12 games.

They know that because they've been tested before.

"We've played Stanford three times, and they're the No. 2 team," said Dixon of the Bruins, who also played Tennessee earlier this year. "Playing such a high seed isn't a shock to us. We just have to play the basketball we're capable of playing."

As they did in the second half on Sunday.

UCLA outscored the Wolf Pack 48-29 in the second half, shooting 62 percent and hitting 13-of-14 free throws. North Carolina State could barely advance the ball toward the basket, the Bruins' suffocating defense cutting off all lanes.

"We talked about our keys, about the things we needed to get better at in the half court defensively - trapping more, closing our traps, being more disruptive on the defensive end," Caldwell said of her halftime speech. "We talked about having ball sureness, getting the running game going.
"But I also told them it's one and done and that I was not ready to go home. "

She's still not.

Caldwell knows what she's up against, as the Huskers and star guard Kelsey Griffin - one of four Naismith Trophy finalists - will present a daunting task.

Caldwell said her Bruins will have to be more assertive early against the Cornhuskers, who simply plowed through a tough Big-12 schedule in what's been their best season in school history.

"Our mindset has got to be more aggressive right out of the blocks," Caldwell said. "We know what's expected of us. We have 40 minutes of March Madness underneath our belts. We've played two No. 1 ranked opponents, and although we fell short, we got a great 40 minutes.

"Against a quality team like Nebraska, we can't just play 23 minutes, we have to play for 40."