It was a big nonconference weekend with a couple very big upsets.

UCLA finished strong last year and almost ended Minnesota's Final Four run before it started. If the Bruins hadn't had the bad luck of facing Whalen in Williams, they might have done some damage in the tournament.

Yesterday afternoon they did some damage, taking down Texas.

"We haven't forgotten about Minnesota," Nikki Blue said. "This season we want to show that, hey, UCLA is here."

Blue had 13, but the Bruins were led by sophomore Noelle Quinn, who had 27 and 11.

UCLA shot worse than Texas, got to the line fewer times, had fewer rebounds and fewer assists... but UCLA just got more chances by hustling, creating turnovers, and crashing the offensive boards.

"When you give up 19 offensive boards it's hard to beat anyone," coach Conradt said. "That's been a problem for us. We got away with it against Tennessee a number of times, but UCLA made us pay for it."