| Women’s Basketball |
|---|
| Ohio St. — 62 |
| UCLA — 72 |
There was never a doubt.
From the opening tip, No. 1-seeded UCLA women’s basketball (30–1, 18–0 Big Ten) controlled the court, leading wire-to-wire in a 72–62 semifinal win over No. 5-seeded Ohio State (26–7, 13–5 Big Ten) on Saturday morning inside a packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The victory sends the Bruins to their second consecutive Big Ten Championship game — one win away from repeating as conference tournament champions.
Senior guard Kiki Rice spearheaded a balanced Bruin attack, finishing with 17 points, eight rebounds and two assists as one of five Bruins in double figures. After the game, she emphasized how much UCLA’s mindset has sharpened in March, saying, “At this time of the year you have to come out strong. Every single team you play is going to be a high-level team, so you don’t want to get yourself down early.”
That urgency showed from the opening possession. Two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, senior center Lauren Betts, set the tone with an early block and controlled the paint on both ends, closing with 14 points, nine boards, four assists, two blocks and two steals as the Bruins jumped out to a 14–3 start. UCLA hit six of its first seven shots and never trailed, using crisp ball movement and interior mismatches to keep the Buckeyes chasing all afternoon.
The second quarter belonged to UCLA’s depth. Graduate forward Angela Dugalić came in earlier than usual, exploiting a mismatch at the four spot for back-to-back buckets and helping the Bruins push their lead into double digits. Head coach Cori Close explained that adjustment afterward: “We did know that that four-player matchup… would be something that would be a real advantage for us and so we wanted to get to that sooner rather than later.” UCLA’s defense matched that execution, holding Ohio State to just 21 first-half points — a season low — and taking a 32–21 lead into the break.
Ohio State made its pushes in the second half, repeatedly trimming the gap to single digits, but each time UCLA calmly answered with a composed possession — a Lauren Betts touch in the post, a Rice drive out of a ball screen or a kick-out three from graduate guard Gianna Kneepkens. Rice pointed to the Bruins’ experience in those moments: “We have a veteran group… we just have a ton of confidence in each other to make the right play, to knock down a shot, to get the look we want to get.”
Around her, everyone delivered something. Kneepkens added 13 points as the perimeter “sniper,” senior guard Gabriela Jaquez poured in 10 with timely buckets late and Dugalić finished with 14 and key defensive plays. Off the bench, freshmen forwards Sienna Betts and Lena Bilić brought what Close calls “passion plays” — deflections, rebounds and hustle sequences that don’t always show in the box score but helped UCLA withstand every Buckeye surge.
Defensively, the Bruins looked like a group built for March. They piled up steals and blocks, blew up actions on the perimeter and forced Ohio State into difficult looks all afternoon. “Defense is something we pride ourselves on,” Rice said. “Just creating havoc, disrupting people’s possessions, making sure that we’re dictating, not them dictating us, is something that we take pride in and we’ve been focusing on especially in the postseason.”
Now, UCLA turns its attention to Sunday’s Big Ten Championship game. The Bruins will face Iowa on March 8 at 11:15 a.m. PST.
