{"id":251591,"date":"2026-04-04T12:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251591\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T12:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:28:24","slug":"ucla-defies-expectations-with-a-final-four-tko-of-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251591\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA defies expectations with a Final Four TKO of Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was ugly.<\/p>\n

It was beautiful.<\/p>\n

It was a messy rock fight.<\/p>\n

It was Bruin ballet.<\/p>\n

In front of a stunned crowd at Phoenix\u2019 Mortgage Matchup Center Friday night, the UCLA women\u2019s basketball team defied stereotypes and defined toughness and did what few believed this dancing, dazzling group could do.<\/p>\n

They beat somebody up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They stared down presumably rougher Texas in the national semifinals and painted the floor in streaks of Longhorn and won the second-most important game of their lives.<\/p>\n

Now they get to play the most important.<\/p>\n

With their 51-44<\/a> victory over the burned Orange, the Bruins have advanced to the national championship game Sunday against a physically dominant group from powerhouse South Carolina<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots over Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four matchup Friday in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Put up your dukes.<\/p>\n

If you thought UCLA needed to take off the gloves against Texas, wait until they go bare knuckles with the deep and experienced Gamecocks.<\/p>\n

Based on legacy alone, the national title bout is a mismatch.<\/p>\n

South Carolina, under legendary coach Dawn Staley<\/a>, is playing in the national championship game for the third straight year and fourth time in five years. Meanwhile, this is UCLA\u2019s first title game appearance in the NCAA era.<\/p>\n

South Carolina has won three championships in the last eight non-COVID-19 seasons. Meanwhile, UCLA is searching for its first NCAA championship and first title of any sort since Ann Meyers Drysdale<\/a> led the Bruins to the 1978 AIAW crown.title.<\/p>\n

Count the Bruins out if you must. But against Texas, a team that had dominated them during the regular season<\/a>, the Bruins did all the counting as the Longhorns lay flat on their backs during an eventual knockout.<\/p>\n

It turns out, being led by six seniors and graduate students on a mission<\/a> to finish their careers together as champions matters. It turns out, a willingness to do whatever it takes to win<\/a> that title matters even more.<\/p>\n

And it turns out, 30 straight wins means something. These Bruins don\u2019t flinch. These Bruins don\u2019t retreat. These Bruins don\u2019t have any doubt that they can survive whatever South Carolina throws at them, even if that\u2019s enough fists and fury to make semifinal-losing UConn coach Geno Auriemma<\/a> lose his mind during a profane in-game interview Friday on ESPN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job\u2019s not finished,\u201d said Gabriela Jaquez<\/a>, who once again seemingly showed up around every loose ball. \u201cStill have one more game to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez drives toward the basket under pressure from Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four semifinal on Friday in Arizona.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

This game began, appropriately enough, with Angela Dugalic<\/a> blocking Aston Judd\u2019s shot and then glaring at her as the Longhorn lay in a heap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such an amazing thing that we have another opportunity to play together,\u201d said Dugalic. \u201cOne more day.\u201d<\/p>\n

This game ended with Lauren Betts<\/a> blocking Madison Booker\u2019s layup attempt with 18 seconds remaining and Texas trailing by just three.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God,\u201d said Charlisse Leger-Walker. \u201cAnother Lauren Betts specialty.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the block, Betts screamed loud enough to be heard from the desert to Westwood. Soon thereafter, her teammates were screaming with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be a tough, physical game and we knew we had to match that intensity,\u201d said Kiki Rice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Did they ever.<\/p>\n

Defensively, they held Texas star Madison Booker to three baskets off 23 attempts, including an unbelievable 17 straight misses at one point. Their Bruins\u2019 pressure was so intense, Texas took 21 more shots and still lost by seven.<\/p>\n

Offensively, four different players scored in double figures while they had 13 assists on 18 baskets. Yeah, they committed 23 turnovers, the most in a Final Four game in 18 years. But who\u2019s counting?<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to apologize to all the fans for the rugby match,\u201d said Bruins coach Cori Close<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No apology necessary.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA forward Angela Dugalic blocks a layup attempt by Texas guard Ashton Judd during thier Final Four game Friday in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The Bruins dominated from the outset, holding Texas to a season-low six points in the first quarter as the Longhorns made just three shots. Hampered by their own mistakes, UCLA let Texas stay in the game until scores by Betts, Rice and Jaquez widened the gap to 10 at the start of the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Texas battled back to within one possession late, but Betts\u2019 block sealed it for a team that has come too far and endured too much to be bothered by even the most furious of comeback attempts. For the record, the mighty Texas team led for all of 54 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is amazing,\u201d said Betts.<\/p>\n

There are players on this team that have made four straight trips to the Sweet 16 and consecutive trips to the Final Four. South Carolina knocked the Bruins out during one of those tournaments. They\u2019re well aware it could easily happen again.<\/p>\n

But pressure moments Sunday afternoon with the basketball world watching? Bring it on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in those moments, we\u2019re just so connected that regardless of what the score is, we could have been down 10, we still would have been as connected as if we were up 10,\u201d said Betts, who missed only three of 10 shots and had 11 rebounds. \u201cI\u2019m just really proud of this group. I think it shows the maturity. I know I can count on anybody on this team, regardless of what the score is. We\u2019re going to continue to show up and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

For one more game. For one last time. For forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was ugly. It was beautiful. It was a messy rock fight. It was Bruin ballet. In front…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48966,19405,8932,111814,111816,42841,48,52,51,48226,47,50,49,111702,2138,105306,10368,5250,564,111815,1092],"class_list":{"0":"post-251591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-basketball-team","9":"tag-betts","10":"tag-bruins","11":"tag-final-four-tko","12":"tag-first-title-game-appearance","13":"tag-kiki-rice","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-madison-booker","22":"tag-more-game","23":"tag-powerhouse-south-carolina","24":"tag-score","25":"tag-shot","26":"tag-texas","27":"tag-title-fight","28":"tag-ucla"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251591","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=251591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}