INDIANAPOLIS — The UCLA women’s basketball is one game away from adding another milestone during its dominant season.
For the second consecutive year, No. 1-seed UCLA will compete for the Big Ten tournament championship. Lauren Betts nearly nabbed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds during the Bruins’ 72-62 win over No. 5-seed Ohio State during a semifinal on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
UCLA (30-1, 18-0) will face No. 2-seed Iowa at 11:15 a.m. PDT on Sunday. The game will air on CBS.
It was UCLA’s 24th consecutive win and kept the Bruins undefeated in conference play.
UCLA forward Angela Dugalic passes the ball under pressure from Ohio State center Elsa Lemmila during the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament on Saturday in Indianapolis.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
UCLA held Ohio State leading scorer Jaloni Cambridge to 12 points, far short of her 23.1 points per game average and her fewest in conference play. Ohio State shot 37% from the field.
“Shutting her down was a big key for us,” said UCLA’s Angela Dugalic, who had 14 points and six rebounds. “The fact that we were able to stop their best player is good for us, but that’s also credit to her the fact that our whole focus was on Cambridge.”
Ohio State’s 62 points were the third-fewest in a game this season. Chance Gray led the Buckeyes with 23 points.
“We have a ton of people who can guard all-around,” said guard Kiki Rice, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. “Just creating havoc, disrupting people’s possessions, and making sure that we’re dictating, not them dictating us, is something that we take pride in and we’ve been focusing on, especially in the postseason.”
In December, UCLA played one of its closest games of the season at Ohio State, fighting for an 82-75 win. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press top 25 poll and are expected to host a first-round NCAA tournament game. While the conference semifinal wasn’t as tight, the Buckeyes still offered UCLA one of its toughest tests in a while.
On Saturday, the Bruins jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first quarter on three consecutive baskets from Rice. The Buckeyes brought it back within four, but UCLA forced nine first-half turnovers to build a 16-point lead in the second quarter.
“They tipped a lot of balls, a lot of passes we usually get through for shots or at least shot opportunities, they were tipping those,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said. “I think their combination of talent, depth, length really makes them very difficult to play against, that’s why I think they’ve got a chance to make a great run in the NCAA tournament.”
The Buckeyes (26-7, 13-5) didn’t fade quietly in the fourth quarter as UCLA quarterfinal opponent Washington did. Ohio State stayed in the single digits until the end of the game, while the Bruins’ offense kept distance with 44.4% shooting.
“I think we could have maybe spread out on [three-pointers] a little bit more in the first half, defended the threes a little bit better in the second half,” said UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens, who scored 13 points. “They’re a great team, and so I think we did a good job. But again, there’s always stuff to work on.”
As a dominant team, the Bruins have to nitpick at times to find areas of to improve. One spot where they can focus on is defense, which has lapsed at points while UCLA runs up the score on offense.
The Bruins’ defensive effort is far from poor, ranking No. 26 nationally with 57.2 points allowed per game, but it’s still behind its sixth-best offense.
“They only got two threes in the second half and limited them to only six attempts,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “And I thought those two things were really good halftime adjustments that were important to us.”
UCLA guard Kiki Rice shoots over Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge during the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament on Saturday in Indianapolis.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
UCLA tallied 10 steals and two were credited to Kneepkens, who has become an key part of the Bruins’ defensive switches on the wing.
“Lately she’s been really on top of her stuff, so I’m really proud of her,” Betts said. “I think a lot of our defensive deflections come from her. … All of that pressure that we had started with her. When she makes big plays, I think it’s a really big deal for our team.”
Saturday was the 16th Quadrant 1 win for the Bruins, and they’ll have an opportunity for another one in a tournament-clinching title game on Sunday.
“I don’t want to say that we’re comfortable winning, or we’re just used to it, but at the same time because we have this standard, we know what to expect out of ourselves,” Dugalic said. “As long as we execute, I think we can keep winning.”