Londynn Jones and Charisma Osborne rally UCLA over California

Londynn Jones and Charisma Osborne lead UCLA to comeback win over Cal

Londynn Jones moves with the ball for UCLA.

By Jill Painter Lopez

Associated Press

Jan. 15, 2023 Updated 4:30 PM PT

Freshman Londynn Jones had 18 points and Charisma Osborne added 17 to lead No. 8 UCLA to 87-70 win over Cal on Sunday.

UCLA star freshman Kiki Rice had a double double with 15 points and a career-high 12 assists.

The Bruins (15-3, 4-2 Pac-12) trailed by as many as 12 points in the first quarter but came back. Cal (10-7, 1-5) played well on the road but couldn’t finish.

Rice had eight rebounds — two rebounds shy of a triple double. The double double was the first of her career.

“They were knocking down shots so I just wanted to keep feeding the hot shooters,” Rice said. “Charisma came out shooting super well, Emily (Bessoir), Londynn. I felt like we were executing and getting open so I just wanted to make those passes.”

It was a close game until the fourth quarter when UCLA, trailing by two points, went on a 12-2 run to lead 78-65 and put the game away.

“I’ll have to watch but we just got blitzed in the last three minutes with turnovers trying to get into some action stuff we wanted to execute,” said Cal coach Charmin Smith. “They turned those turnovers into points in transition. We knew we couldn’t turn it over. That was tough.”

Osborne suffered an ankle injury early in the game. She walked off the court with assistance and went straight to the locker room, but she returned later in the first quarter. The Bruins went down by 12 without her. Claudia Langarita made a layup for the 17-5 Cal lead.

Kemery Martin had a game-high 23 points for the Bears and her five three-pointers tied a career-high.

The Bears made nine of 12 shots in the first quarter.

Martin made her first eight field goals in the game and was five of five from three-point range. Her first miss came at 6:50 in the third quarter on a 10-foot jumper.

With the Bruins down by 12, they went on a 18-6 run to tie the game at 23 on an Osborne layup. Osborne had seven points during that instrumental run.

“Show me a better guard defender in the country,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “You’re not going to find it. I was more worried about getting defensive stops. I knew we’d get offensive stuff but without Charisma I knew it would put pressure on our defense and that’s the thing that people don’t talk enough about with Charisma.”

UCLA was coming off a loss to No. 2 Stanford at home Friday. The Bruins were cold early in the game but took a five-point lead in the second quarter and then trailed 38-36 at halftime.

Cal’s Jayda Curry made a three-pointer for the 39th consecutive game, moving her into sole possession of second place in Pac-12 history.