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Tuesday, March 7 Updated: March 14, 9:27 PM ET Great one day, flat the next |
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(Editor's note: UCLA's Maylana Martin, a senior forward, will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more information on the Bruins, visit UCLA's official athletic site.) March 7, 2000
It was a pretty up-and-down weekend against the Bay Area schools. We beat Stanford on Friday and it was probably the best game we've played all year. Beating Stanford, which was No. 1 in the Pac-10 at the time, was just a huge win for us. We played as a team. We played really good defense. The post players had a really good game considering the last time we played them we went 1-for-10 combined. This time Janae (Hubbard) had like 13 points and 13 rebounds. I had like 22 points and six rebounds. Carly (Funicello) had some really good blocks and had some great defensive plays for us. So I was really pleased with the game. It was a good way to end the final weekend of our career at home. But then we came out Sunday and played Cal on Senior Day, and just went back to playing the way we had been playing. We didn't really play great defense as a team. We didn't block out and turnovers were a real problem. I think we had 29. This weekend kind of showed how the season has been for us. One day we play great and the next we come out flat. We've been really up and down. We went from beating a very good Stanford team to losing to a mediocre Cal team. It's just something that we have to get past and hopefully this weekend we'll play better.
On the way to Washington
On Saturday we play the University of Washington at the KeyArena, which is the same place that the Seattle Sonics play. I'm really looking forward to that because it's not everyday that you get to play in an NBA arena, so that's pretty cool and I'm excited to do that. We have to be ready for the Huskies because they shoot a lot of 3-pointers, too, and crash the boards really hard. Those are two things that teams have been doing to us all year. We just have to make some adjustments. We have to make a commitment to rebound. We have to get a hand up in their face. I know that Husky Megan Franza is one of the best players in the Pac-10 in terms of 3-point percentage, so we have to make sure that we shut her down.
Looking for a bid to the Big Dance I've heard some talk about us going up to Santa Barbara. That would be great because our fans could follow us and we wouldn't have to make a huge trip. I've also heard that if we stay in the West, we might go to Portland, which also isn't that far. But Santa Barbara would be the best situation for us. Right now we're just looking to finish up the Pac-10 strong and come out this weekend and win both games. Anything can happen once you get in the tournament, that's why they call it March Madness. Hopefully we'll get ourselves into the top 64 and see what we can do from there.
Senior Day sentiments Obviously Sunday was a very emotional day for us. I just tried to not really think about it because Sunday was supposed to be game day first and Senior Day second. I didn't cry at all before the game. It was fun seeing my entire family there and I'd like to thank everyone for coming out. It was neat to see everybody because we really don't get a chance to see each other except for Christmas and on the holidays, so it was nice to see them on a random Sunday to come out and support me on my last game in Pauley. I can speak for all the seniors when I say that we've had a great time at UCLA. We just want to thank everyone who has supported us these last four years. I think that we've helped UCLA as a basketball program grow, just like the program itself has helped us grow. I know that I'm going to look back in a couple of years and have great memories of this place. I would like to say thank you to UCLA for giving me the opportunity to have all these great experiences in my life. |
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