The latest edition of the \u201cBattle of L.A.\u201d was all blue and gold as UCLA, playing in Westwood for the first time since a 106-44 blowout of Long Beach State<\/a> on Dec. 20, took command with a 14-0 run midway through the second quarter to notch its eighth straight victory since its only loss to No. 2 Texas in late November.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you to the crowd for showing up on a rainy day \u2014 we appreciate the support,\u201d UCLA coach Cori Close<\/a> said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t play our best, but we did a great job on the boards. We held them to 27% shooting. Our defense was better than our offense today. Offense cannot be where we find our identity. Defense and rebounding was our anchor tonight. I\u2019d like to see more consistency and to keep getting closer to our standard.\u201d<\/p>\n UCLA guard Kiki Rice shoots over USC guard Malia Samuels during the second half of the Bruins\u2019 win Saturday night.<\/p>\n (Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The score was tied 16-16 after the first 10 minutes, but then the Bruins began to assert themselves in the paint. A layup by Angela Dugalic<\/a> put UCLA up 20-18 with 8:20 left in the second quarter and it never looked back.<\/p>\n Lauren Betts<\/a> led the fourth-ranked Bruins (14-1 overall, 4-0 in Big Ten) with 18 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. After a one-handed stuff on the defensive end, the 6-foot-7 center dished to Gianna Kneepkens<\/a> for a wide open three-pointer, then sank a pair of free throws to put UCLA up by double digits for the first time two minutes before halftime. Kiki Rice<\/a>\u2019s driving layup at the buzzer grew the lead to 15 at halftime, 43-28.<\/p>\n Kneepkens scored 15 points, Rice contributed 14 points and eight assists and Gabriela Jaquez added 12 points. The Bruins had 24 assists, won the battle on the boards 46-26 and outscored the Trojans 42-10 in the paint.<\/p>\n UCLA center Lauren Betts looks to pass to forward Angela Dugalic over USC guard Kennedy Smith during the second half Saturday.<\/p>\n (Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the hardest-working team I\u2019ve ever been around, I\u2019ve got to kick them out of the gym,\u201d Close added<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between hard work and competing. Now I want them all to transfer that hard work into competitive awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n Kara Dunn<\/a> scored 11 points to lead 17th-ranked USC (10-4, 2-1).<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone told me before the game our programs were 54-54 in the all-time matchup, so this was the rubber match,\u201d said Close, who is 8-4 versus the Trojans since Lindsay Gottlieb took over as USC in 2021. \u201cOne thing we share is that we want to grow the game together in L.A. I\u2019m proud to partner with Lindsay in that.\u201d<\/p>\n It marked UCLA\u2019s fifth win this season over a ranked opponent. The Bruins take on their seventh in their next game Jan. 11 at No. 20 Nebraska.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we lost to them here last year it was a tough and we didn\u2019t want to feel that again,\u201d Rice said. \u201cThis is a new year, a new opportunity and for me it wasn\u2019t about scoring, it was about finding my teammates. This is a balanced team, a lot of players can score, so we wanted to crash the boards and limit their possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n A priority on defense was containing freshman guard Jazzy Davidson<\/a>, who entered Saturday averaging a team-best 16.8 points per game. She was held to 10 points on four-for-15 shooting. UCLA no doubt took pride in holding senior guard Londynn Jones<\/a>, who transferred from UCLA to USC<\/a> over the summer, to six points on one-for-nine shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m only not rooting for Londynn a couple of times a year,\u201d Close said. \u201cOther than that I\u2019m always in her corner.\u201d<\/p>\n USC guard Jazzy Davidson, right, tries to keep the ball away from UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens during the first half Saturday.<\/p>\n (Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n UCLA stretched the lead to 25 points by the end of the third quarter.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was primarily about maintaining space offensively and I thought our guards did a great job creating for me … especially in transition,\u201d said Betts, who passed 1,500 career points in the Bruins\u2019 97-61 rout of Penn State on New Year\u2019s Eve. \u201cSure, reaching that milestone is cool, but it\u2019s a just a number.\u201d<\/p>\n USC made six of its first nine three-pointers but went cold after that.<\/p>\n USC guard Londynn Jones, right, tries to drive past UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez during the first half Saturday.<\/p>\n (Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cWe decided we\u2019re not going to let them shoot any more threes,\u201d Betts said. \u201cThat was keeping them in the game. I was helping on ball screens but it was a team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what legendary coach John Wooden would have thought of this UCLA squad, Close said: \u201cHe always valued the teamwork aspect. I\u2019d like to think he would\u2019ve enjoyed watching us and his family members tell me \u2018Papa would\u2019ve liked this team\u2019 and I take that to heart.\u201d<\/p>\n UCLA players celebrate on the bench during their 80-46 win over USC at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night.<\/p>\n (Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protect our home court. That was the UCLA women\u2019s basketball team\u2019s New Year\u2019s resolution, and in the Bruins\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6265,48966,63212,63211,48225,42841,48,52,51,48226,47,50,49,63,16976,18158,1417,278,1092,3533,8934],"class_list":["post-119518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-assist","tag-basketball-team","tag-crosstown-rival-usc","tag-fourth-ranked-bruins","tag-gianna-kneepkens","tag-kiki-rice","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lauren-betts","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-meeting","tag-no","tag-point","tag-season","tag-ucla","tag-usc","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"UCLA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767508569_210_.jpeg\")
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