UCLA’s women’s basketball team secured their place in the Elite Eight with an 80-56 victory over Minnesota. The Bruins, who led by five at halftime, proved too strong for their Big Ten opponents in the second half at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
UCLA’s coach Cori Close acknowledged the defensive effort. She said, “I think we started to feed off of us getting stops.”
Betts Leads the Charge
Kiki Rice led UCLA with 21 points. Angela Dugalic contributed a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Lauren Betts added 16 points and matched her season high with five blocks.
Betts commented on the team’s mentality: “It’s just coming out with a mentality that you’re just going to take away what they want to do,” adding, “I think it all starts with just that aggressive mentality that we were just going to come out and make things really hard for them, and I thought we did that and it just creates opportunities for us to play in transition.”
UCLA’s defence played a key role, limiting the Gophers to 38% shooting from the field, their eighth-lowest in a game this season. Minnesota’s 56 points were their third-fewest this season.
Second-Half Surge Seals the Win
Minnesota struggled in the opening quarter, going four minutes without scoring. They shot 0 for 5 with three turnovers. UCLA went cold on offense in the second quarter, and Minnesota cut the lead to three points.
Despite UCLA’s struggles from three-point range in the first half, where they went 0 for 6, they led 34-29 at the break. Betts and Dugalic combined to hit 10 of 13 shots in the opening half, while the rest of the Bruins went six for 23.
Looking Ahead to Duke
UCLA (34-1) will now face No. 3 seed Duke (27-8) for a spot in the Final Four. The game is scheduled for Sunday at noon PDT. The Bruins previously defeated the Blue Devils 89-59 on Nov. 27.
The victory over Minnesota marked UCLA’s 28th consecutive win, a streak that dates back to November.