Angela Dugalic surrendered a starting role and unlocked UCLA’s trip to the Final Four
Before the UCLA women’s basketball team began its postseason run, coach Cori Close called Angela Dugalic the Bruins’ X factor.
It would be easy to dismiss that as coachspeak, especially when Close harps so much on the teamwork and joy and intangible aspects of this season’s squad. But Dugalic, UCLA’s critical first player off the bench, actually does in many ways define what the Bruins have been this season.
UCLA is going back to the Final Four after a 70-58 win over Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday, a game during which Dugalic tallied 15 points with six rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes off the bench. She was a part of several key moments, from taking two shots in the paint within a minute of entering the game to a buzzer-beating floater to end the third quarter.
A starter last season, she volunteered to come off the bench this year to give UCLA more lineup clarity and flexibility. Since then, she’s inspired the team’s selfless play Close thought they would need to win a championship.