UCLA weekend recap: Women’s basketball earns first-round bye

The UCLA women’s basketball team finished its regular-season home slate with a sweep of the Washington schools that clinched a first-round bye in next month’s Pac-12 tournament.

After a big 90-79 win over No. 9 Washington on Friday, the No. 18 Bruins extended their home unbeaten streak to 27 with a 67-48 win over Washington State on Sunday.

Jordin Canada, who spent most of the week rehabbing a neck injury she suffered against Oregon State, came off the bench against UW and scored 22 points to lead the Bruins (20-7, 11-5 Pac-12) to a critical ranked victory. UCLA was coming off a terrible road trip in which it lost three of four games. The win over the Huskies gave the Bruins a victory over each of the top three teams in the Pac-12 this season (Oregon State, Stanford and UW).

Against Washington State, Monique Billings tied a school record for rebounds in a game, pulling down 25, while notching her 16th double-double of the season with 12 points.

Elsewhere in UCLA athletics:

  • After a weather delay, baseball clinched its season-opening series against San Jose State on Sunday with a 10-1 win. The Bruins (2-0) started the 2017 season with a 3-2 win over the Spartans on Friday in which Ryan Kreidler drove in the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the ninth. UCLA goes for the series sweep Monday at 1 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
  • No. 5 Softball went 4-0 at the Mary Nutter Classic, getting wins over Cal Poly, UCF, UC Davis and Liberty. Madeline Jelenicki led the Bruins (10-1) with four RBIs over the weekend, including two home runs in as many games on Sunday.
  • Kyla Ross recorded her second career perfect 10 on bars as gymnastics lost 197.875-197.500 to No. 5 Utah on Saturday. The Bruins recorded a season-high 49.55 on beam, led by Madison Kocian‘s career-high 9.95.
  • Men’s tennis won an exciting 4-3 match against No. 9 USC at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Friday, but also took top-5 losses to No. 1 Virginia and No. 4 California during the three-day tournament. Martin Redlicki clinched the victory for the No. 7 Bruins (7-3) against USC, beating Brandon Holt in three sets, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. The top-ranked Cavaliers shutout the Bruins, 4-0, then Cal clinched a 4-3 win in the consolation bracket with a victory from J.T. Nishimura over Austin Rapp at No. 4 singles.
  • Weather postponed the women’s tennis team’s match against Pepperdine on Friday, but the Bruins (6-1) waited out a nearly four-hour rain delay on Saturday to secure a 4-3 win over USC. Ena Shibahara and Jada Hart were undefeated against the Trojans, paring up to win 6-0 at No. 1 doubles, then winning their singles matches at No. 1 and No. 4 singles, respectively. Hart’s three-set victory over Rianna Valdes clinched the team win for the Bruins, who have won four consecutive dual matches.
  • Women’s water polo played through Friday’s severe storm and beat No. 6 UC Irvine 16-1 in UCLA’s home opener. Maddie Musselman led No. 3 UCLA (8-0) with four goals.
  • Men’s volleyball continued its recent struggles, losing in straight sets to No. 2 Long Beach State on Saturday, 25-20, 25-23, 25-22. The No. 5 Bruins (10-6, 7-5 MPSF) have lost five of their past six, all to top-15 opponents.