Home cooking: UCLA gets 96-43 round one win over California Baptist
Following a slow first half, UCLA excelled after halftime en route to a 96-43 win over California Baptist to begin the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
It was a sluggish start to the NCAA tournament for the No. 1 seed UCLA Bruins , as No. 16 seed California Baptist stuck around longer than expected on Saturday but the Bruins eventually broke away, picking up a 96-43 win to advance to the second round.
UCLA trailed for more than just a handful of possessions The Lancers held a lead over six minutes into the game before the immense talent of the Bruins became too much for the WAC champions. UCLA ended the first quarter with a 23-15 lead but it felt a lot worse than that for the Bruins. The final score ended up in the right place for the Bruins Other elite programs in the tournament crushed their first round matchups, with UConn beating UTSA 90-52, South Carolina handled Southern 103-34 and LSU got a 116-58 victory over Jacksonville.
It’s not as if it’s time to panic for UCLA looked more mortal than expected against 23-11 California Baptist. UCLA pulled away in the third quarter After the Bruins led just 44-34 at halftime, UCLA dominated the third quarter 31-4 to put any chance of an upset to bed. The Bruins showed a much higher level of defensive intensity while getting some shots to fall.
Cori Close got the underclassmen some action UCLA added onto the lead in the fourth quarter while letting the Baby Bruins get some run. Freshmen Sienna Betts, Lena Bilic and Christina Karamouzi all got burn along with sophomore Amanda Muse, allowing UCLA’s senior core a lighter second half workload. UCLA's stars led the way but they got some help off the bench The trio of Lauren Betts , Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez combined for 56 points to lead the way for the UCLA offense.