UCLA women crush South Carolina 79-51 for first NCAA title
SkimNews Take
The transfer portal, typically blamed for disrupting continuity, here produced the opposite: seven seniors who arrived via different paths peaking together as a unified veteran core.
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- UCLA beat South Carolina 79-51 in Sunday's NCAA title game in Phoenix, finishing 37-1 and avenging last year's 85-51 semifinal loss to UConn, with Jaquez (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Lauren Betts (14 and 11) leading the way in a game UCLA never trailed.
- UCLA's seven seniors scored all 130 points across the Final Four, and four of them — Betts (from Stanford), Angela Dugalic (Oregon), Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State), and Gianna Kneepkens (Utah) — arrived via transfer, while Megan Grant crossed over from UCLA's softball roster.
- Lauren Betts delivered what broadcaster Ryan Ruocco called "a block for the ages" against Madison Booker in Friday's semifinal win over Texas, the kind of defensive play teammate Leger-Walker called a consistent "momentum shift" for the Bruins.
- Betts arrived at UCLA in 2023 with her confidence shattered after one year at Stanford, took a mental health break in her first Bruins season, then became a first-team All-American, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and this season's Big Ten Player of the Year.
- Kiki Rice and Jaquez, the only two holdovers from a touted five-player 2022 freshman class, both said they never considered transferring, with Jaquez telling ESPN: "Why would I leave? I love UCLA."
- Coach Cori Close, in her 15th season building the program, credited her late mentor John Wooden's philosophy and said she is intentional about honoring the 1978 AIAW champions, led by Ann Meyers Drysdale, who was in the Phoenix arena watching the title run.
- Betts, Rice, Jaquez, Leger-Walker, Kneepkens and Dugalic are all expected to be selected in the WNBA draft on April 13, with Betts projected as a high first-round pick.
Why it matters: UCLA's first NCAA women's basketball title — the program's first in any era since the pre-NCAA 1978 AIAW crown — validates a 15-year build by Cori Close and could shake up the WNBA draft board on April 13, where as many as six Bruins seniors, including projected lottery pick Lauren Betts, are expected to be selected. South Carolina, which had been chasing a fourth straight title, was routed by 28 points, underscoring how decisively UCLA closed the gap from last year's 34-point semifinal embarrassment.
