The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Bruins’ trip to NIT Final Four hasn’t been easy
The UCLA women’s basketball team heads into the WNIT semifinals in what will be its third consecutive game on the road.
The Bruins are in South Dakota, where it was snowing Wednesday, to take on South Dakota State tonight. It was a 13-hour trip to get there, and the team was split into three groups, each with different travel arrangements. They met up in Sioux Falls and drove an hour to Brookings for a final arrival time of 1:30 a.m.
Unlike the NIT, which is operated by the NCAA, the WNIT is run by a for-profit company, meaning teams aren’t provided with chartered flights.
“I think our players have been really leaning into hostile environments and taking it in as a challenge,” said Bruins coach Cori Close, who had SDSU coach Aaron Johnston as one of her assistants on the USA Basketball Women’s U19 World Cup team last summer. “And we always challenge them to lean into the hard and this is just another opportunity to do that”
Aside from chaotic travel arrangements, the Bruins (18-12) have overcome other obstacles this season, especially with injuries. Months later, Close said the team is jelling as she expected, just a little later than planned.
UCLA beat UC Irvine and Air Force at home before beating Wyoming in triple-overtime in the third round of the WNIT. The Bruins then fended off a relentless Oregon State team on Sunday to win, 74-66, and advance to the semifinals for a matchup with South Dakota State (27-9), which beat them, 76-66, in late November at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida.
Junior Charisma Osborne scored a season-high 31 points in the Oregon State game and hit 11 free throws late in the game to aid in the win. Jaelynn Penn, the team’s No. 3 scorer, added 17 points.
It’s UCLA’S second appearance in the WNIT, having won it in its only other appearance in 2015.
For Penn, though it’s her first year with the Bruins, she is going for her second WNIT title. She had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Indiana when the Hoosiers won the tournament in 2018.
“I just know from that experience how much it helps the program,” Penn said. “How much bigger it is than just ourselves and individuals. It’s super important for us to go out here and win this thing and just realize that it’s bigger than us.”
The Bruins have won seven of their past eight games — the lone loss coming against Oregon in a Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal.