{"id":588274,"date":"2026-04-06T03:07:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588274\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T03:07:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:07:26","slug":"ucla-crushes-south-carolina-for-ncaa-womens-basketball-national-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588274\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA crushes South Carolina for NCAA women’s basketball national title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Lauren Betts<\/a> turned to the crowd, her hands on her head, and eyes met with the UCLA <\/a>family section. She mouthed one phrase twice before she and her teammates rushed the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a 30-point lead by the end of the third quarter, much of the end of Sunday\u2019s NCAA championship victory was a celebration of what UCLA had built en route to its 79-51<\/a> victory over South Carolina.<\/p>\n

By the final buzzer, it was a full-blown party.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA's <\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s Kiki Rice, right, drives around South Carolina\u2019s Raven Johnson during the first half of the NCAA national title game on Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cJust winning with this team, turning around and seeing my team run to the court after the final buzzer, there is a balance of being in the moment, but you can\u2019t help in the last couple seconds, it hits,\u201d UCLA point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker said. \u201cWe were going to be national champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bruins\u2019 first NCAA championship was a romp from start to finish, an inverse of their tournament experience a year ago. Last season, UCLA\u2019s 34-point loss to Connecticut<\/a> in the semifinal became the worst loss in tournament history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just never wanted to feel that way ever again,\u201d said senior center Lauren Betts<\/a>, who was named the tournament\u2019s most outstanding player. \u201cI feel like ever since then we\u2019ve really just grown in our preparation. I feel like everyone understood the moment. Never had to question that we weren\u2019t going to go out there and be ready. You could tell on everyone\u2019s faces how bad we wanted it. When duty called, everyone answered, so I\u2019m just really proud of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCLA won an AIAW title in 1978 against Maryland before women\u2019s basketball was an NCAA sport. <\/p>\n

\"UCLA's <\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s Lauren Betts shoots over South Carolina\u2019s Maryam Dauda in the first half of the NCAA national championship game Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

This season, there was no doubt UCLA was ready for the moment and it ensured it could reverse the history books.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was just a fantastic display of our resilience, intensity that we came out with,\u201d UCLA guard Kiki Rice<\/a> said. \u201cJust our will to win. We knew, we had a feeling this was our time, this was our year. We came out there this entire weekend, and we would not be denied.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was perhaps the most UCLA performance the Bruins could have had. In their final collegiate games, Betts (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Gabriela Jaquez<\/a> (21 points, 10 rebounds) earned double-doubles and all five starters scored in double digits. They dominated the boards (49-36), played stellar defense and most important, didn\u2019t turn the ball over often.<\/p>\n

After the Bruins held Texas to a season-low 44 points in Friday\u2019s semifinal, they held the Gamecocks to 51, also their lowest total all season.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA's <\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s Gabriela Jaquez celebrates after scoring while being fouled during the first quarter Sunday against South Carolina.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is literally so incredible,\u201d Rice said. \u201cThis is everything that we came here to do. And I\u2019m so proud of every single person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bruins jumped out early while South Carolina struggled with the Bruins\u2019 size and went three for 18 from the floor. Rice (10 points, six rebounds, five assists) hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the opening quarter with the Bruins holding on to a 21-10 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why, that moment, I was just like, \u2018OK,\u2019\u201d said UCLA senior Angela Dugalic<\/a>, who had nine points and five rebounds. \u201cWe had the rest of the game, but it just felt like, \u2018We\u2019re OK, we got this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Near the end of the first, Betts came back to the bench coughing and sputtering, seemingly unable to clear her throat. At the start of the second quarter, she was at the end of the UCLA bench and used an inhaler before returning to the game.<\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s suffocating defense held the Gamecocks to 25.7% shooting in the first half. Unlike Friday\u2019s win over Texas, the Bruins\u2019 offense recovered from a one-for-10 stretch far earlier, and UCLA led 36-23 at the half.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Highlights from UCLA\u2019s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women\u2019s basketball national championship game.<\/p>\n

The Bruins outscored the Gamecocks 25-9 during the third quarter to earn a 61-32 lead off a 13-0 run. It was the largest lead ever for a team going into the fourth quarter of an NCAA championship game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so rare in life that you can start a journey with a group of people and really envision something, then trying to reverse engineer a plan that will actually lead you to the point that we\u2019re experiencing right now, that it actually happens, that you\u2019re in that position that you had planned for,\u201d UCLA coach Cori Close<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s just really with great humility. Man, we are so fortunate to be experiencing that. They earned every bit of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Carolina shot a season-worst 18 for 62 from the floor and two for 15 from three-point range.<\/p>\n

Rice, Betts, Jaquez, Dugalic, Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens have all exhausted their college eligibility and will go out on top as champions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no better way we could hope to end our career,\u201d Rice said. \u201cWe played the last possible minutes of basketball that you could play in the season. We are the only team that\u2019s ending their season with a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA players, including Kiki Rice, left, and Gabriela Jaquez celebrate after winning the NCAA women\u2019s basketball national championship on Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

After the nets were cut down, Betts, Leger-Walker and Jaquez returned to the trophy stage and performed their signature viral dance they first performed during the UCLA men\u2019s team\u2019s senior night.<\/p>\n

They laughed, they hugged and they cried, just as they did on the bench during the waning moments of their college careers after cementing their UCLA legacies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think just the joy we have and the love we have for each other has really motivated us this whole season because we just want to do it for each other,\u201d Jaquez said. \u201cThat just made it so special, and why we\u2019ve been so successful this whole season.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCLA will need to rebuild with few returners, but now that her players have won a national title, Close should have her pick of the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

Now, Close and the Bruins have championship pedigree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any of our six seniors were on any other team, I believe they would have been an All-American, first team,\u201d Close said. \u201cTo say that that is not as important to me than experiencing this together, wow, how lucky am I to be part of young women that would make that hard, right choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

UCLA players celebrate after defeating South Carolina for the NCAA women\u2019s basketball championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Lauren Betts turned to the crowd, her hands on her head, and eyes met with the UCLA family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,264328,287558,28972,2276,34983,287559,36826,6010,287557,321,10227,25906,8447,85,8451,10593],"class_list":{"0":"post-588274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-basketball-history","12":"tag-basketball-national-title","13":"tag-bruins","14":"tag-connecticut","15":"tag-end","16":"tag-final-four-history","17":"tag-last-season","18":"tag-loss","19":"tag-ncaa-woman","20":"tag-point","21":"tag-rebound","22":"tag-semifinal","23":"tag-south-carolina","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-ucla","26":"tag-victory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}