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Billings helps No. 5 UCLA beat Kansas State women

K-State’s Mittie: ‘We left a lot of chances out there on the floor’

Adam Soboleski
Kansas State’s Shaelyn Martin, right, shouts at teammates during the first half of Friday’s game against UCLA in Las Vegas. (Marc Sanchez/The Associated Press)

LAS VEGAS — UCLA coach Cori Close was worried about the “letdown” game against Kansas State on Saturday.

The No. 5 Bruins were coming off a loss to top-ranked UConn at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday night in an early-season showdown in front of 9,263 fans.

Playing in front of just a few hundred against unranked but undefeated Kansas State at the South Point Shootout, the Bruins had some difficulties before finally putting the Wildcats away for a 64-55 win.

“Today was our redemption day,” said UCLA’s Monique Billings, who led the team with 17 points and 12 rebounds. “It felt bad losing, especially on our home floor. We wanted to kick someone else’s butt to get that feeling back.”

The Bruins got a wake-up call Friday.

“Yesterday’s practice told me we had a little bit of a hangover,” said Close, whose team lost to UConn 78-60. “We were really disappointed, and as a coach, we didn’t really play as well as we wanted. I knew we would be ready to play today, especially against their length and zone.”

Kennedy Burke and Kelli Hayes each added 12 points for the Bruins (4-1). UCLA leading scorer Jordin Canada got into early foul trouble and finished with just 6 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.

After only leading 31-28 early in the second half, the Bruins outscored the Wildcats 17-9 the rest of the way in the third quarter.

Kayla Goth led Kansas State (4-1) with a season-high 19 points. Goth was 9 of 15 from the field. Kansas State struggled shooting from everywhere, including 19 of 54 (35 percent) from the field.

“We left a lot of chances out there on the floor, free-throw line, layups,” Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. “Some opportunities were not converted. UCLA is very athletic and got a lot of extra chances on the boards. We got Canada and (Lajahna Drummer) into foul trouble. We had our opportunities.”

UCLA, which was 21 of 56 from the field for 38 percent, scored the game’s first eight points and eventually built a 17-10 edge at the end of the first quarter, and a 28-12 lead, its largest of the first half. The Wildcats responded with a 14-3 run to end the half as Goth scored 10 in the session, hitting all five shot attempts. The rest of the Wildcats were 5-of-21 from the field.

The Bruins started the third quarter on a 10-2 run while Kansas State started 1 of 11 from the field during that period. UCLA’s lead never got below six points the rest of the game, although the Wildcats cut the lead to 64-54 with 1:15 left.

Kansas State will play Penn State on Saturday at the Shootout.

KANSAS ST. (4-1)

Page 3-12 0-0 8, Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Goth 9-15 1-1 19, Martin 3-6 4-8 11, Ranke 3-12 2-4 10, Jones 0-0 1-2 1, Lakes 0-1 1-2 1, Ray 0-0 0-2 0, Goodrich 1-6 2-2 5, Wiggins 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 19-54 11-21 55.

UCLA (4-1)

Billings 5-11 7-11 17, Drummer 1-6 1-2 4, Burke 3-5 5-6 12, Canada 3-8 0-0 6, Hayes 4-9 0-0 12, Miller 2-3 0-2 4, Onyenwere 2-4 1-1 5, Rosenblum 0-0 1-2 1, Horvat 1-9 1-3 3, Owens 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 21-56 16-27 64.

Kansas St. … 10 … 16 … 11 … 18 … — … 55

UCLA … 17 … 14 … 17 … 16 … —… 64

3-point goals — Kansas St. 6-22 (Page 2-10, Williams 0-1, Martin 1-2, Ranke 2-7, Goodrich 1-2), UCLA 6-21 (Billings 0-1, Drummer 1-2, Burke 1-2, Canada 0-4, Hayes 4-8, Horvat 0-3, Owens 0-1). Assists — Kansas St. 8 (Goth 5), UCLA 15 (Canada 6). Fouled out — Kansas St. Lakes, Rebounds — Kansas St. 31 (Martin 6), UCLA 48 (Billings 12). Total fouls — Kansas St. 20, UCLA 23.