No Bruin should ever get tired of hearing these words in this specific order: UCLA women’s basketball has won again.
On Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion, the now No.2 UCLA women’s basketball team (26-1, 16-0) defeated the Washington Huskies with a final score of 82-67 to clinch the No.1 seed in the Big Ten Conference. The victory against the Huskies brings the Bruins’ record to 26-1 overall, and they remain undefeated (16-0) in the Big Ten conference. This team can’t be called anything other than dominant—with a 20-game win streak, the Bruins have toppled every Big Ten opponent they have faced, no matter how good the opposing team has been. This was especially true tonight against the Huskies, who put up a good fight with offensive performances that nearly rivaled UCLA’s.
Head coach Cori Close said in a postgame interview that “[Washington] played really hard and really well today…I thought they played the best basketball they’ve played in the Big Ten for a while.”
The first quarter started off with the Huskies striking first with a field goal by Huskies guard Avery Howell, but the Bruins answered right back with a field goal by senior center Lauren Betts, and two free throws by senior guard Kiki Rice. Though it seemed as if both teams were relatively even, UCLA’s offense started to gain the fiery momentum that it needed.
After a made layup by Howell, graduate forward Angela Dugalić made two free throws, and in one of the most electric plays of the game, Rice made a 3-point jumper that had Pauley Pavilion on their feet. There was also a moment in the first quarter that saw the sibling battery, Lauren Betts and her sister, freshman forward Sienna Betts, make back-to-back layups in the paint, which made the score 19-12.
At the end of the quarter, with six seconds left, graduate guard Charlisse Leger-Walker made one final push to allow the Bruins to score. Although it seemed as if she would be overcome by the strong Washington defense, she passed the ball to graduate guard Gianna Kneepkens, who scored an electric 3-pointer to end the quarter that had Pauley rocking. The quarter ended with a score of 22-12.
In the second quarter, the Huskies’ offense started to catch up, scoring 17 to UCLA’s 20. That being said, UCLA’s offense was still quite adequate, and there were plenty of electric moments. Specifically, Lauren Betts, after making a basket with an assist by Kneepkens, scored yet another basket not even 20 seconds later. Senior guard Gabriela Jaquez also made an outstanding basket—as she attempted to make a basket, she stumbled a bit. However, before she started to stumble, she was able to release the ball from her hand and score, sending Pauley into a frenzy once again. After the Huskies attempted to make one last offensive push before the end of the quarter, UCLA’s defense was able to hold them off until the buzzer, leaving the score at 42-29 by halftime.
The third quarter started off strong with a layup by Lauren Betts in the first minute of the quarter and another layup by Rice at the 7:59 mark. Later, although Kneepkens had an electric 3-point shot, the Huskies’ offense answered right back with a 3-pointer of their own. Making 3-pointers is something that the Huskies did particularly well during the game, going 10/27 (37%) compared to the Bruins, who went 4/15 (26.7%). Though the Bruins managed to keep and slightly extend their lead over the Huskies, their offense was difficult to get by, as they scored 19 points to UCLA’s 21.
Close noticed the stagnancy of the Bruins’ offense, and stated in a postgame interview that “We stopped playing connected basketball…but when we play around with the ball or we go before we read the space, that’s where we got ourselves in trouble, and that’s what you saw.”
The fourth quarter was much the same, and quite reflective of Close’s comments—though UCLA had 19 points of offensive action, including stellar plays by Jaquez, Rice, Kneepkens and Lauren Betts, the Huskies caught up and scored 19 points to match their efforts. Despite Washington’s offense matching UCLA’s, the Bruins still managed to take home the win with a final score of 82-67.
Following tonight’s victory, UCLA women’s basketball celebrates a momentous occasion, being that they have clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season Conference for the first time since 1999—several alumni of that same 1999 team were in attendance at Pauley Pavilion for tonight’s game.
Although this is a major milestone for the team, Lauren Betts emphasized in a postgame interview that despite the major accomplishment, the team doesn’t simply want a share of the Big Ten Conference—they want the chance to win outright.
“I think it’s super special, really proud of this team. Obviously we want to win it outright, so we’re going to continue to make sure that we finish this regular season the right way…we have bigger things ahead that we’re looking forward to, so we’re just gonna continue to keep our heads down and keep getting better.”
Betts made it clear that she and the team want to win the Big Ten Conference outright, and they will have the chance to do that when they take on the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 2 PST at Pauley Pavilion.
