UCLA Bruins Win First NCAA Women’s Title
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- UCLA Bruins clinched their first NCAA women's basketball championship by beating South Carolina 79-51 in Phoenix.
- The championship game drew an average of 9.9 million viewers, the third‑most‑watched women's final since 1996.
- Coach Cori Close received a standing ovation at Pauley Pavilion and declared that Los Angeles now cares about women's basketball.
- Lauren Betts performed a TikTok dance with the trophy alongside teammates Gabriela Jaquez and Charlisse Leger‑Walker during the celebration.
- A banner honoring the first NCAA women's basketball title will be raised to the ceiling in Pauley Pavilion alongside the 1978 AIAW championship banner.
- Charlisse Leger‑Walker became the first New Zealand woman to win an NCAA title, highlighted by a traditional Maori dance performed by the Tamaki Basketball Academy.
- The team later attended a Clippers game against Oklahoma City and has already appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show, with a Dodgers game visit planned.
Why it matters: The championship lifts UCLA’s profile and proves Los Angeles’ appetite for women’s basketball, turning a previously under‑watched sport into a marquee event that attracted 9.9 million viewers and will be commemorated with a permanent banner, while inspiring international athletes like Leger‑Walker and expanding the sport’s market appeal.
