SPOKANE, Wash. — Lauren Betts had 17 factors and 7 rebounds regardless of spending your complete second quarter on the bench, and prime total seed UCLA reached its first Closing 4 of the ladies’s NCAA Event with a 72-65 victory over LSU on Sunday.
The 6-foot-7 Betts added six blocks for the Bruins (34-2), who will face the winner of Monday’s sport between Southern California and UConn. The Closing 4 is Friday night time in Tampa, Florida.
Gabriela Jaquez had 18 factors and eight rebounds for the Bruins and Timea Gardiner completed with 15 factors, serving to to choose up the slack went Betts went to the bench after committing two first-quarter fouls.
“Credit score to my teammates for holding it down whereas I used to be out,” Betts mentioned throughout the trophy ceremony.
UCLA gained a nationwide title in 1978 within the pre-NCAA period of ladies’s basketball, however this was its first NCAA regional remaining victory in three tries.
LSU senior ahead Aneesah Morrow’s nostril was bloodied in a collision with teammate Sa’Myah Smith, however she checked again into her remaining sport for the Tigers with none facial safety and completed with 15 factors.
Flau’Jae Johnson scored 28 factors to guide third-seeded LSU (31-6), which gained the nationwide title two years in the past below coach Kim Mulkey however has now been eradicated within the final two Elite Eights.
The Tigers closed inside 46-41 to start out the fourth quarter. Betts’ layup prolonged the Bruins’ result in 56-45 with 6:54 to go.
Johnson’s layup bought the Tigers inside 56-52 with 3:24 left, spurring an “LSU! LSU!” chant from the gang. However the Tigers couldn’t get nearer, and Jaquez made a 3-pointer with 1:30 left that every one however sealed the Bruins’ win over the group that eradicated them from final 12 months’s Candy 16.
“We discuss if Lauren kicks it out, you’ve bought to be a prepared shooter,” mentioned Jaquez, whose older brother Jaime Jaquez Jr. performs for the Miami Warmth after starring at UCLA. “I’ve simply bought to remain prepared always. And I knew that was the appropriate shot I wanted to take and I’ve confidence in myself when taking pictures. I put within the work.”
Betts — a matchup nightmare for any group along with her towering stature and talent within the publish — was coming off a 31-point, 10-rebound efficiency within the Candy 16 and a 30-point, 14-rebound effort within the second spherical. She’s one in all simply three gamers to have a number of video games with at the very least 30 factors and 10 boards within the match within the final 25 seasons.
“Betts didn’t beat us,” Mulkey mentioned. “We guarded her as robust as we may. We didn’t benefit from her being off the ground within the second quarter, and we allowed perimeter 3s and different individuals to step up.”
The Bruins jumped out early, however the Tigers had an 13-9 edge going into the second quarter. The Bruins went on a 6-0 run, capped by Gardiner’s 3-pointer, to take a 23-17 lead.
The Bruins held their very own with out Betts, heading into halftime up 31-25. Gardiner had 9 factors within the opening half.
“I’ve full confidence in them,” Betts mentioned of her teammates. “Clearly I’m extra mad at myself that I had two fouls. However that is what we’re speaking about once we say we’ve a deep group. I don’t need to be within the sport always. I’ve a group stuffed with gamers which might be simply wonderful and proficient in their very own proper, and put within the work.”
Betts began the second half, extending the Bruins’ lead with a layup. Londynn Jones made it 36-25 with a 3-pointer.
UCLA pushed its lead 14 factors earlier than an 8-1 LSU run that closed the hole to 44-37. At one level, UCLA coach Cori Shut yelled at her group, “Execute!”
Morrow was damage with 1:22 left within the third quarter. She was helped off the court docket with a towel to her face and went to the locker room, however returned to start out the fourth. ESPN reported throughout the sport that Morrow’s nostril was damaged, however she mentioned afterward that it wasn’t.
Huge open
Mulkey identified that LSU outrebounded UCLA 43-38, however the Bruins went to the road 20 occasions versus the Tigers’ 10. But it surely was taking pictures that finally doomed the Tigers.
“Must return and have a look at the pictures we missed. Simply wide-open pictures,” Mulkey mentioned, shaking her head.
Nicely, really …
Shut was fast to level out UCLA’s earlier nationwide semifinal appearances in 1978 and ’79, when ladies’s basketball was ruled by the Affiliation for Intercollegiate Athletics for Girls. Denise Curry and Debbie Haliday, who performed on the title-winning group, have been in attendance.
“We had a number of the alumni right here from that group,” Shut mentioned. “We had so many different alums, so I simply needed to offer them their flowers.”
