{"id":85725,"date":"2025-12-08T03:34:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T03:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/85725\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T03:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T03:34:20","slug":"lauren-betts-helps-no-3-ucla-pummel-oregon-in-big-ten-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/85725\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Betts helps No. 3 UCLA pummel Oregon in Big Ten opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anytime UCLA<\/a> built a significant lead in the first half, Oregon tried to slow the the Bruins\u2019 momentum with a timeout. The first call came after a UCLA built a 10-point advantage in the first quarter, with the second timeout after UCLA pulled ahead by 19 points.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t work \u2014 the Bruins remained in control of the game.<\/p>\n

The No. 4 UCLA women\u2019s basketball team (9-1) earned an 80-59 win over Oregon (10-1) during their Big Ten opener at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday. <\/p>\n

Center Lauren Betts<\/a> led Bruins with a season high of 24 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Gianna Kneepkens<\/a> and Lena Bilic finished with double-digit scoring, adding 17 and 13 points, respectively. After earning Big Ten Player of the Week honors, Gabriela Jaquez<\/a> finished the game with eight points, four rebounds and two assists.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA center Lauren Betts looks to pass the ball while being guarded by Oregon forward Ehis Etute Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.<\/p>\n

(Caroline Brehman \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the first half was with great spirit, aggression,\u201d UCLA coach Cori Close said. \u201cOne of our best offensive rebounding halves that we\u2019ve had, 16 assists in the first half, tons of really good things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bruins started the game with a six-point run put together by Kneepkens, Betts and Jaquez. <\/p>\n

When UCLA wasn\u2019t shooting well from beyond the arc, the Bruins kept feeding the ball to Betts in the paint. <\/p>\n

Betts played aggressively on both sides of the court, and she was too formidable for Oregon to stop. When the Ducks\u2019 defense tried to collapse on Betts, she passed to an open teammate.<\/p>\n

By the third quarter, the Bruins were in complete control. Betts blocked a shot that was converted into a Kneepkens three-pointer that extended UCLA\u2019s lead to 24 points.<\/p>\n

UCLA finished the game with 22 assists and three players with double-digit scoring.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you really get to know who you\u2019re playing with and how they play, it\u2019s just natural fluency,\u201d Kneepkens said.<\/p>\n

Close said she watched film with Betts to highlight some things she wanted her center to implement during games, which led to Betts\u2019 best game of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when you\u2019re in the moment, everything just feels so far away that you can\u2019t really make the fixes,\u201d Betts said. \u201c[Waching film] just makes my job a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s intensity took a dip in the second half. The Ducks\u2019 defense kept the Bruins under 20 points during each of the last two periods. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get into comfortable spaces, we just have to grow on not getting tired of doing it right,\u201d Close said. \u201cWe get casual, we communicate less, our rebounding numbers were less, our passion plays were less, 17 of our 22 assists happened in the first 20 minutes and 30 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the Bruins eased their intensity, Oregon never cut the deficit below 20 points the rest of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI failed because in the second half, I called an early time out, we talked about exactly what the differences we were seeing and I wasn\u2019t able to turn it,\u201d Close said. \u201cThat\u2019s always the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Cal Poly visiting on Tuesday, Close hopes to see her team learn from its mistakes on Sunday and improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really an art project and not a scientific formula,\u201d she said. \u201cJust like I expect them to come back to the drawing board on practice … and go, \u2018This is what I\u2019m willing to change,\u2019 I gotta do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Close stresses good habits against overmatched opponents leads to success when championships are on the line in March and April. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get there,\u201d Kneepkens said. \u201cIt\u2019s still December.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anytime UCLA built a significant lead in the first half, Oregon tried to slow the the Bruins\u2019 momentum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[19405,48224,8932,19222,42838,423,48225,48,52,51,48226,47,50,49,18158,545,39708,1417,7556,48227,1092],"class_list":{"0":"post-85725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-betts","9":"tag-big-ten-opener","10":"tag-bruins","11":"tag-control","12":"tag-gabriela-jaquez","13":"tag-game","14":"tag-gianna-kneepkens","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-lauren-betts","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-no","23":"tag-oregon","24":"tag-pauley-pavilion","25":"tag-point","26":"tag-rebound","27":"tag-significant-lead","28":"tag-ucla"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85725","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=85725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}