The UCLA women earned their first-ever berth in the NCAA Final Four, beating the LSU Tigers in the Spokane I regional final, 72-65 last Sunday. The Bruins were led by junior forward Gabriela Jaquez, who came through with 18 clutch points, hitting on 4 of 5 three-point shot attempts. Jaquez made a three-point field goal in the second quarter to give the Bruins the lead for good at 20-17.
That lead grew to 43-29 in third quarter on another three-point field goal from Jaquez. Another three-point field goal with from Jaquez on a pass from center Lauren Betts with just 1:30 remaining in the game gave the Bruins a 62-53 lead and essentially sealed the victory against the Bayou Bengals.
Jaquez also led the Bruins in rebounding with eight and in steals with three. Betts, who scored 31 points and added 10 rebounds in a 76-62 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels in the Sweet Sixteen game on Friday night, got into early foul trouble against LSU and only played 25 minutes. She still made a huge impact overall, with 17 points and six blocked shots. Betts talked about the pass that set up the final Jaquez three-point field goal.
“I think Gabs and I pretty much always play off of each other, so that was pretty normal,” Betts said. “But just the moment was so big. Obviously, like, they had been double-teaming me as I’m trying to score, and then obviously, I just found Gabs, and she stays ready. So, I was just so happy for her. I mean, just pure joy.”
The victory gave the Bruins their first Final Four appearance in the modern-day NCAA women’s basketball tournament, which began in 1983. The Bruins will take on the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies, who are appearing in their 24th Final Four. The storied UConn women’s basketball program has appeared in 16 of the last 17 NCAA women’s Final Fours and has won 11 national championships.
The 11 national championships are tied with the UCLA men’s basketball program for the most college basketball national championships. UConn has not won a national championship since 2016, but they are favored to win this season and are 8.5-point favorites to beat the Bruins in Tampa on Friday Night, April 4th. That game is scheduled to start at 6:30 pm and will be televised nationally on ESPN. The winner will play in the national championship game on Sunday, against either South Carolina or Texas.
UCLA has won a school record 34 games this season, with both losses coming to the USC Trojans in the regular season. Every game this season has had a different star emerge to help lead the Bruins to victory. Against LSU, point guard Kiki Rice had just eight points, six in the final minute of the game on free throws. She did have eight assists, but forward Timea Gardiner came off the bench to hit 5 of 8 three-point field goal attempts for 15 points.
UCLA head coach Cori Close talked about the challenges of this season after their win over LSU. “Yeah, it’s a challenge every year, but specifically this year. We had seven new players and six returners, and so how do we become a group that’s better together than the sum total of our parts and our talent pieces? And so, from the very beginning, it was obvious that we had enough talent. But we said talent was going to be our floor. Our character, our chemistry, our habits were going to be our ceiling.”
The character and chemistry has earned the Bruins the No. 1 ranking in the nation and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. But despite their success, the Bruins are the significant underdogs versus UConn. The lack of respect is a bit surprising and should provide additional motivation for a talented Bruins basketball team when they battle UConn on Friday.