{"id":363319,"date":"2026-04-04T10:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/363319\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T10:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:43:09","slug":"ucla-hold-off-texas-in-slugfest-to-set-up-title-game-matchup-with-south-carolina-ncaa-tournament-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/363319\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA hold off Texas in slugfest to set up title game matchup with South Carolina | NCAA Tournament 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lauren Betts had 16 points and made a huge block in the final minutes, and UCLA withstood a late charge by Texas on Friday night for a 51-44 win to reach the national championship game<\/a> of the women\u2019s NCAA Tournament for the first time.<\/p>\n

Manhandled by eventual national champion UConn in their first Final Four a year ago, the Bruins (36-1) dominated their way to another national semi-final with the best season in program history.<\/p>\n

A chance at a first national championship game appearance had to go through the only team to beat them this season.<\/p>\n

Overpowered in the first meeting, the Bruins turned the bully tables on Texas (35-4), shutting down All-American Madison Booker while building a 13-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

The Longhorns are one of the nation\u2019s best defensive teams and flexed their defense during a 12-2 run that cut UCLA\u2019s lead to 47-44.<\/p>\n

Betts swatted the Texas run to halt.<\/p>\n

She blocked Booker\u2019s shot with 20 seconds left and Kiki Rice hit two free throws, sending coach Cori Close\u2019s crew into the title game.<\/p>\n

The grinding win earns the Bruins a spot in Sunday\u2019s title game against South Carolina, the three-time national champions who ended reigning champion UConn\u2019s undefeated season and left Huskies coach Geno Auriemma fuming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So was Booker after a brutal finish to what was otherwise a stellar season. She hit her first shot, missed her next 17 and finished with six points on 3-of-23 shooting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lauren Betts had 16 points and made a huge block in the final minutes, and UCLA withstood a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-363319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}