UCLA takes down Texas, advances to first national championship game
PHOENIX — Cori Close said Thursday that her biggest regret of last year’s postseason was that she didn’t celebrate her UCLA team enough.The Bruins’ head coach will have a chance to remedy that Sunday in Phoenix.For the first time in program history, UCLA is on to the NCAA national championship game after the Bruins held on against fellow No. 1 seed Texas 51-44 on Friday night in a doozy at Mortgage Matchup Center.The Bruins will take on South Carolina, which upset UConn earlier in the night amid drama between head coaches Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley.The Bruins ultimately had the cushion they needed to get the job done in one of the ugliest games of their season and the tournament, thanks to getting hot in the fourth quarter as offense was difficult to come by for both teams. By the beginning of the fourth quarter, UCLA led just 31-28. But Close’s team rattled off a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the final period, which ended up being just enough — especially after Texas made a 7-0 run of its own late to bring the game within three points with a little more than a minute to play.
Star center Lauren Betts led the way with 16 points and had some help from guards Gabriela Jaquez and Gianna Kneepkens, who finished with 10 each.Texas star Madison Booker, meanwhile, scored just 6 points and shot 3-of-23 shooting from the field on an uncharacteristically cold night for the Longhorns’ most dominant player. Texas as a team shot just 31 percent from the field, though the Bruins weren’t much better with their 41 percent clip.The win on Friday comes after Texas beat UCLA in late November by 11 points. Betts had just 8 points in the Las Vegas matchup. Perhaps more importantly? This victory is a year after the Bruins were blown out by UConn in the Final Four and left Tampa crushed after their best team in decades fell short of playing for the ultimate prize.Betts, a senior, was asked Thursday if there was any added pressure for this Bruins squad, which is loaded with fellow seniors who know what’s on the line in Phoenix.“I think in the back of our heads, we all know that this is our last go at this,” she said. “It’s all or nothing for all of us.”The Bruins will need to have a more productive outing Sunday if they want to hang with South Carolina, which beat UConn 62-48. The Gamecocks are averaging 86.5 points per game for the season.The Bruins and Gamecocks did not play this season, but UCLA won by 15 points in last year’s regular-season meeting.This story will be updated.
