{"id":200233,"date":"2026-03-02T06:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/200233\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T06:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:57:14","slug":"ucla-women-dominate-rival-usc-to-finish-big-ten-play-undefeated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/200233\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sunday was \u201cSenior Night\u201d for the USC<\/a> women\u2019s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team\u2019s seniors who stole the show.<\/p>\n

Gabriela Jaquez<\/a> scored 14 points, Kiki Rice<\/a> had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts<\/a> had 15 rebounds and five assists as UCLA<\/a> wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.<\/p>\n

Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are two elite programs, we knew it would be different tonight, we knew they\u2019d come with fire,\u201d said UCLA coach Cori Close, who improved to 9-4 against the Trojans since counterpart Lindsay Gottlieb started at USC in 2021. \u201cWe knew we\u2019d have to do it with our defense, our rebounding and by taking care of the ball.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was the Bruins\u2019 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 17 times.<\/p>\n

Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches\u2019 polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday\u2019s quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Charlisse Leger-Walker<\/a>, nicknamed \u201cX-ray vision\u201d by teammates, equaled her season high with 20 points for the Bruins (28-1, 18-0) while Gianna Kneepkens<\/a> added 14 points and five assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime we play together we know we can win,\u201d Leger-Walker said. \u201cWe did a good job looking into the scout. Every game we just think about going 1-0. People scouting us know that all five players on the court can score the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

UCLA held USC to 27% shooting in the teams\u2019 first meeting \u2014 a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts\u2019 18 points. It was USC\u2019s most lopsided loss under Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing undefeated [in conference] is a great step in the right direction towards what we want to accomplish,\u201d said Jaquez, who appreciated the flowers she received before the game from USC. \u201cI love this rivalry. It\u2019s super fun to play against them and it was nice that they honored us too.\u201d <\/p>\n

UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.<\/p>\n

USC (17-12, 9-9) opened the second half on an 11-2 run but gave up 14 second-chance points and allowed 22 offensive rebounds. <\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, front, and forward Angela Dugalic celebrate as USC guard Kennedy Smith walks away during the first half Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get more possessions than our opponent we\u2019re most likely going to win,\u201d Close said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t allow one basket on an out-of-bounds play and they lead the conference in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshman guard Jazzy Davidson<\/a>, USC\u2019s leading scorer, got into early foul trouble but still finished with 12 points. She was held to 10 points on four-for-15 shooting in the first meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great crowd, we were in the fight but we didn\u2019t rebound or shoot well enough,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cWe wanted to keep them out of our paint. We swarmed Betts, double-teamed her and got it out of her hands but other people scored.\u201d <\/p>\n

Londynn Jones<\/a>, who spent three seasons in Westwood (playing in 108 straight games) before transferring to USC for her senior year, was held to six points in the team\u2019s first meeting and nine points (on four-of-10 shooting) in the rematch. The Trojans\u2019 other senior, Kara Dunn, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Londynn,\u201d Close said. \u201cWe think she looks better in blue, but we love her and I told her that. I appreciate all she gave to our programs.\u201d <\/p>\n

Asked if this is the best team she has ever coached, Close had a one-word answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday was \u201cSenior Night\u201d for the USC women\u2019s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6265,48966,48031,8932,93051,9831,48,52,51,48226,47,50,49,3289,1417,93049,93050,135,776,25859,48360],"class_list":{"0":"post-200233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-assist","9":"tag-basketball-team","10":"tag-big-ten","11":"tag-bruins","12":"tag-conference-tournament","13":"tag-first-time","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-headlines","16":"tag-la-news","17":"tag-lauren-betts","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-loss","22":"tag-point","23":"tag-rival-usc","24":"tag-senior-night","25":"tag-shooting","26":"tag-sunday","27":"tag-ucla-woman","28":"tag-usc-woman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200233","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=200233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}