Maylana Martin's Diary

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Dec. 1, 1999

Well, we are only three games into the season and we've already played three very tough opponents in North Carolina, Texas and Tennessee. Our season opener against North Carolina was kind of a mixed game. We played really well in the first half, then we came out in the second half and didn't do as well as we expected. We ended up beating them by four and it was a tough battle and a good win for is. We hadn't won our season opener since I was a freshman so it was good for us to start the season on a good note. After that, we came home and played Texas and ended up beating them in overtime. That also was a good game. We went in there and played kind of tentative in the first half and they got up on us and led by 13 at halftime. We came back, but were still down by about 10 with three minutes left. We ended up pulling it out after Michelle Greco hit a clutch jumper right at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime. I think that speaks well for our team because Michelle is only a sophomore and she's taking clutch shots like that. That just shows that anyone on our team can take over on any given night. That was such a huge win for us. I think we've been in situations like that in the past like when we played North Carolina a couple of years ago and went into overtime and lost. We played Notre Dame two years ago and ended up losing in overtime again. I think playing a team like Texas, which is very physical and very feisty, and coming from behind to win in overtime just shows the kind of heart and maturity our team has. And that comes with having the six seniors on the court. That win was definitely one of the biggest wins this team has had since I've been at UCLA.

We just came off of a loss yesterday to Tennessee. It was a fun game because they are a national power and have won the national championship three out of the last four years. I think it was a good game for us to see where we are at as far as the rest of the country is concerned. We probably could've played a little bit better and maybe done a little bit better against them. We lost by 11, but we played them tight for most of the game except for the last couple of minutes when they kind of went on a run. I think that game showed what our weaknesses are and what we need to work on. You want to take positives out of games like that. Tennessee is a great team and we played them tight and now if we face them in the tournament, we'll know what to expect.

As far as expectations go for the season, we have a lot of seniors and we've done pretty much everything except go to a Final Four. We've won the Pac-10 Championship and have been to the NCAA Tournament for the last two years so I think the next step is to go to the Final Four. We expect a lot out of ourselves and I think people expect a lot from us as well, but that is also a good situation to be in. We're not going to shy away from the pressure. We actually play better when the pressure is on. Hopefully we will continue to get better throughout the season, get some people back from injuries and just get ready to go come tournament time.

Looking ahead, we have some tough games. We have North Carolina coming up again and then in a couple of weeks we take our back-East trip to Rutgers and UConn, so those are some real tough games that should hopefully get us prepared for Pac-10 play. This weekend we're playing Louisiana Tech in Orlando for the Holiday Classic. It's a four-team invitational with UCLA taking on Louisiana Tech and UConn and Penn State playing each other. I think it will be a good trip for us and should be a lot of fun. We will be in Disney World for a day and we'll get to hang out as a team and get to know each other a little better, then get to play one of the top teams in the country in Louisiana Tech. They are one of those teams that we have trouble with because they are a very quick team. They crash the offensive boards really hard and I think that's one of our weaknesses - defending teams that rebound well like LA Tech and Tennessee. It we do well against Tech, it will kind of help us feel a little better about losing to Tennessee. Hopefully that game prepared us for this weekend because both Louisiana Tech and Tennessee are very similar. Louisiana Tech is probably a little faster than Tennessee, but they aren't as big. If we fix the mistakes that we made against Tennessee, I think we have a good shot at an upset this weekend. As far as Rutgers and UConn, I think UConn is ranked No. 1 right now and Rutgers is always in the top-4, so those are two tough teams and we are going to have our work cut out for us. We always say that if we want to be the best, we are going to have to play the best. Hopefully playing these tough teams will help us in the rankings and get us ready for Pac-10 play."