With every shot that found the bottom of the net, every pass that was deflected, every trip down the court that resulted in one player pointing at another in appreciation, the UCLA women’s basketball team did something it could not two days earlier.
Bury an overmatched opponent in the opening minutes.
The Bruins didn’t wait to exert their dominance Monday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
When Lauren Betts flung a pass out of the post to Charlisse Leger-Walker for a 3-pointer, UCLA had scored the first nine points against Oklahoma State.
The top-seeded Bruins were soon leading by double digits and closed the first quarter with 10 consecutive points. UCLA’s 87-68 victory over the eighth-seeded Cowgirls at Pauley Pavilion was a strong counter to its lackluster early play in the first round, when the Bruins held just a 10-point halftime lead against Cal Baptist.
“I think we just learned our lesson,” Betts said. “We don’t want another halftime with Coach Cori [Close] walking in there [to talk about what went wrong]. We’re trying to avoid that at all costs. I think it starts defensively. … Just being the aggressors and taking things away is a really big point that we wanted to make this game, and I thought we did that from the very beginning. We just followed the scout really well, we executed, we made things hard.”
They were up by 20 at the game’s midpoint Monday, allowing them to withstand a significant third-quarter lull in which Oklahoma State pulled to within 13.
The Cowgirls could get no closer. Leger-Walker drove for a layup and Betts made a putback in which she was fouled, unleashing a celebratory roar.
Betts finished with a career-high 35 points on 15-for-19 shooting before leaving with a minute to play.
Even though it wasn’t the most complete performance, UCLA (33-1) was well on the way to its 27th consecutive victory, extending the program record.
What it means
This was the final game for UCLA’s six seniors on their home court, where their team has gone 61-5 over the past four seasons.
They saved their best for last, completing a perfect 16-0 record inside Pauley Pavilion this season.
As Gabriela Jaquez dribbled out the final seconds, she waved to fans standing and cheering. She was soon joined by teammates who formed a circle at midcourt and also waved to fans who returned the favor.
“The fans have just been so supportive of me through my entire journey, through my mental challenges, through just basketball, everything,” Betts said. “I feel like I’ve grown so much, and they have really taken care of me here.
“It’s not even about basketball to me at this point. Like, the people that we’ve been able to affect and just the difference that we’ve made, I think has been huge, and so for me, like, just to see all the people waving at us at the end of the game was really special.”
Turning point
The opening tip.
With so much discussion about UCLA’s poor early showing against Cal Baptist, the Bruins were clearly determined to do better.
It wasn’t just an early deluge of points that made this a runaway; their tight defense flustered Oklahoma State (24-10) into four early turnovers.
Once Gianna Kneepkens buried back-to-back 3-pointers, UCLA was up by 11 and on its way.
MVP
Like she so often does, the 6-foot-7 Betts dominated smaller defenders.
She was particularly unstoppable in the third quarter when the game got tight.
Making 3 of 4 shots and 5 of 7 free throws, Betts finished the quarter with 11 points to go with four rebounds and one assist.
Betts finished with nine rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal to go with her career high in points. She set that mark on her final basket on her home court with 1:02 left.
“I can’t deny, like, that is really cool,” Betts said. “I feel like the points, they really don’t mean anything to me. To me, like, I really just want to win games with this team. The fact that we won today is what matters most to me, and that we’re moving on to the Sweet 16.”
Up next
In a Big Ten battle on a bigger stage, UCLA will play fourth-seeded Minnesota on Friday at the Golden 1 Center in a regional semifinal. The Bruins defeated the Golden Gophers by 18 points when the teams met in January in Minneapolis.
Close said she disagreed with the bracketing rules that prevent conference rivals from meeting in a regional final.
“That is an antiquated, poor rule that advantages the wrong teams and the people who haven’t done the work,” Close said. “That bothers me way more [than not being the No. 1 seed overall]. And now it’s OK, though, that we play a conference foe in the Sweet 16, but not in the Elite Eight, and especially if it disadvantages the No. 1 overall seed and the No. 2 overall seed. Like, you know, it wouldn’t have mattered. We would be better off if we were lower.
“So that actually is the part that I hope they will change down the road. Really, if you’re trying to go win a national championship, it really shouldn’t matter. You got to play everybody eventually.”
