Ask many a casual fan about UCLA and basketball and they will likely retell stories about the laundry list of championships the men’s hoops Bruins won during the era of coach John Wooden.
Prior to this season, UCLA had yet to claim national championship euphoria on the women’s end of the basketball ledger. But the old saying goes that there is a first time for everything.
Following victories over Cal Baptist, Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Duke and Texas, coach Cori Close’s UCLA squad faced – on paper – what appeared to be its toughest test to date. That was a South Carolina team that had won three championships during the Dawn Staley era.
Instead of a competition, UCLA vs. South Carolina felt more like a coronation. When all was said and done, the Bruins dominated the Gamecocks with the scoreboard reading a resounding 79-51 at the final buzzer.
Even though UCLA jumped out to a 21-10 lead following the first quarter, one had to expect that South Carolina would make it a game considering the Gamecocks’ history. They showed signs of it in the second quarter as UCLA only outscored South Carolina by a margin of 15-13 in that frame.
Going into halftime, the Bruins advantage over the Gamecocks was 36-23.
It was in the third quarter that reality began to set in that this would, indeed, be more coronation than competition. UCLA entered Sunday’s championship contest at the Mortgage Matchup Center with an all-senior starting five. Those 2026s were hungry to ensure their final time in UCLA threads would be a memorable one.
The third quarter would be UCLA’s best offensive frame of Sunday’s game – and the worst for South Carolina. With the Bruins outscoring the Gamecocks by a margin of 25-9, it was no longer a question of if UCLA would claim victory but what the point margin of its win would be.
That point margin would be 28 points as Monday, April 5 would turn out to be a historic occasion for UCLA.
Seventy of UCLA’s 79 points would be tallied courtesy of its starting five of seniors. That included Gabriela Jaquez who was the big point-getter of the afternoon for the Bruins. Jaquez paved the way to a UCLA victory with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds in addition to five assists plus a steal in the 34 minutes that she played.
Another instrumental name in the Bruins win was Gianna Kneepkens who was a notable transfer into UCLA prior to this season. Kneepkens would log 26 minutes of court time while scoring 15 points and dishing out four assists. A steal and a block were also part of her Arizona afternoon.
Everything Lauren Betts has been through to get to this moment – mental health struggles, trolls questioning her womanhood – has been well-documented. She – unlike those provocateurs – now can call herself a national champion. Betts’ size was too much for the Gamecocks and it showed by virtue of her 14-point, 11-rebound double-double. She also blocked a pair of shots. Betts is a likely lottery pick in next week’s WNBA Draft.
The Bruins also benefitted from the performances of a pair of 10-point scorers. One of those was Kiki Rice who also boosted her team with six rebounds, five assists and three steals in the 31 minutes that her sneakers made contact with the Final Four court.
Charlisse Leger-Walker was the other of those 10-point scorers for UCLA. Leger-Walker also hauled in four rebounds and rejected a South Carolina shot attempt.
The other nine points for the Bruins would be placed on the scoreboard courtesy of Angela Dugalić. She would log 29 minutes of court time and added five rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block to the UCLA cause.
A point was made during the radio broadcast that UCLA won this lopsided get-together by playing more South Carolina basketball than South Carolina was. For much of the game, it felt as if it was 5-on-1. Only two for the Gamecocks finished in double-digits points wise.
One of those was Tessa Johnson who finished with 14 points and three rebounds in the 30 minutes she played. Another was Agot Makeer who would give the Gamecocks 11 points off its bench in 23 minutes.
Joyce Edwards was held to eight points in the 30 minutes she played but she did lead South Carolina’s efforts on the glass with 11 rebounds. Alicia Tournebize would play 15 minutes and grab six off the bench.
Raven Johnson would play 30 minutes and was held to three points and three rebounds in her final time playing for coach Dawn Staley. She did collect a steal.
