PHOENIX — UCLA fans flooded the streets of downtown Phoenix hours before the tip of Friday’s Final Four game against Texas. Across the street from the Mortgage Matchup Center, hundreds of fans dressed in blue and gold packed Tom’s Watch Bar for a private UCLA alumni event.
Though last year’s 85-51 Final Four semifinal loss to UConn left a sour taste in the mouths of Bruins fans, it didn’t stop them from making the six-hour drive from Los Angeles to Phoenix for UCLA’s second Final Four appearance.
Among those in attendance Friday to support UCLA were class of 2002 alumni and college roommates Candice Wilmuth and Amy Shoemaker. Shoemaker traveled from Long Beach, while Wilmuth came from Lake Tahoe.
“I am excited for women’s basketball to get the support that men’s gets,” Shoemaker said. “For me, part of coming out this weekend is also putting my money where my mouth is. This is part of women stepping up and getting the recognition they deserve. I want UCLA basketball for women to be the same moneymaker [as it is for men’s]. If I’m walking through the airport and people are like, ‘Why are you wearing your UCLA gear?’ Then I’m like, ‘UCLA’s in the Final Four.’ They shouldn’t have to say, ‘It’s the women.’ That’s what I hope, because I think UCLA has an incredible sports lore. I think it’s super exciting.”
UCLA fans cheer during the first quarter of the Bruins’ win over Texas during a Final Four game Friday at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Shoemaker hopes that two-time All-American Lauren Betts can leave the same legacy as that of many of the UCLA men’s greats.
“What I hope for is, you know like when you’re at a game and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar comes to the game and everybody stands up and claps, that the same would happen for Lauren Betts in 20 years,” Shoemaker said.
Wilmuth and Shoemaker have also been impressed with the character of UCLA coach Cori Close’s team.
“And they’re the kind of people you want to be,” Wilmuth said. “Not just because they’re amazing basketball players, but they’re really making positive choices about who they want to be as people and that’s so much more important than just a sport. And it makes me really proud to be a Bruin and proud to be affiliated with them.”
Scott and Dianne Parker, a retired couple from South Pasadena, attended the Bruins’ first two games at Pauley Pavilion this season. A few days before the Final Four, they decided to make an impromptu trip to Arizona to cheer on UCLA.
“I’m an alumni and on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, we said, ‘Let’s go to Phoenix!” Dianne recalled. “We’re retired. We could do it.”
Dianne believes the future is very bright in Westwood.
“[I expect] more wins,” Dianne said. “Cori Close is a great coach. I think she’s got what it takes to build a good team. They’re losing a lot of talent, so that will be hard, but I think that she’ll put the best team she can together.”
It wasn’t a difficult decision for Kathy Jeffries and her daughter, Kirstie, both UCLA alums, to travel to the desert from Pasadena for the Final Four weekend.
“We are season ticket holders for the Bruins and we just could not pass this up,” Kathy said. “Once in a lifetime. Well, hopefully not once in a lifetime, but the first in a lifetime.”
Though last year’s Final Four run ended in bitter heartbreak, Kirstie is more optimistic about UCLA’s chances this year.
“Last year’s team was a great team,” Kirstie said. “But they seem to have even more camaraderie and chemistry, so we’re just big fans of them personally and athletically.”