(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.)

Dec. 7, 1999

	Martin

Well, we just got back from Florida after playing Louisiana Tech in the Honda Elite 4 Honda Classic. It was a good second half, but I think we came out very flat in the first half.

The Lady Techsters capitalized on some of our early mistakes and kind of rolled with it and created a snowball. They have a very quick team. The thing that makes them so good is that they realize when a team is struggling and they take full advantage of it. That's what they did with us in the first half.

They realized that we have a freshman point guard who was getting rattled a little bit and they got some steals on her and got inside her head. They capitalized on mistakes as a team and were up by 28 at halftime. I thought we played a good second half. We actually outscored them by 10, but by that point it was too late. When you spot a team 28 points at halftime, it's hard to come back from that.

I think we just need to come out and play better from the beginning of a game. For us to beat teams like Louisiana Tech, Tennessee or UConn, we need to make sure that we put together 40 minutes of good basketball and turn the tables on them. When they make mistakes, we need to capitalize on them. We need to make our easy shots. We need to make our free throws and we need to remain poised in the face of adversity. When things aren't going our way, we need to concentrate on the things that we can fix and then hopefully everything else will fall into place.

This week we're going up against San Diego State and Pepperdine. I think this will be a good week for us. So far we've played four really tough teams and this week should be a good week to work on fundamentals and learn how to execute things better. Pepperdine isn't a slouch by any means, but compared to Louisiana Tech and Tennessee, this game should give us some breathing room to try and get our confidence back, and right now, I think that's the most important thing.

We've been lacking some confidence as of late. I think when Erica Gomez comes back that's going to give us some confidence, but we need to learn how to find that without her so when she does come back we will be that much stronger. It's important that we stay balanced throughout the year.

After a loss like we had against Louisiana Tech, you have to make sure that you don't get too low. The same applies to winning as well. After a big win like we had against Texas, it's important that we don't get too full of ourselves. We have to realize that there is still so much to learn. You can't really get too high or two low or on any sort of emotional roller coaster, because if you do, then you let your emotions get the best of you. You kind of have to stay on an even keel and learn from each game whether it's a win or a loss.

Since we play such a difficult schedule, I've had the opportunity to see a lot of good teams play already and I will see more as the season goes on. We've shown that we're up there with the best after beating teams like North Carolina and Texas. But I do think we have a little way to go as far as the Final Four is concerned. We lost by a lot to Louisiana Tech and we lost to Tennessee, but I think our potential is there. We're a bit fragmented right now, meaning we need something that will help pull our talent together -- something that will get us through the tough situations.

Right now we're facing tough situations and tough teams and we're kind of folding. We just need something to pull the team together. Confidence is big factor as well. Erica will bring us confidence and who knows, she just might be the glue that helps keep everything together and help us remain strong in the face of adversity.

As far as winning a national title, I definitely think we have all the pieces. We are a great scoring team. We have the quickness in LaCresha Flannigan and Jalina Bradley. The big inside players with Janae Hubbard and Carly Funicello. Once we get Erica back, we'll have a lot of depth at the point guard position with her and Nicole Kaczmarski.

Like I said, we have all the pieces to the puzzle -- those pieces just need to come together in order for us to reach the Final Four and win a national championship.