Lauren Betts swats away Texas: UCLA to face South Carolina on Sunday

It’s only fitting that the UCLA Bruins are headed to their first-ever NCAA national championship game after a game-sealing block by Lauren Betts . Betts sent away a Madison Booker shot in the final minute of UCLA’s 51-44 win over the Texas Longhorns in the semifinal on Friday. Basketball felt like rugby on Friday This game was a slugfest, and that might be underselling it.

UCLA head coach Cori Close compared the game to a rugby match in a mid-game interview but the Bruins survived through the muck and have an Easter Sunday showdown versus South Carolina for a national title. UCLA kept Madison Booker under wraps It took some oddities for UCLA to get the win. Booker shot an incredibly unusual 3-23 shooting performance.

You can give UCLA’s defenders credit for slowing down Texas’ star but Booker is typically a far more sharp player than what we saw on Friday. The Bruins will take it though, as the UCLA defense kept the Longhorns offense out of sync all game long. "The Block" @laurenbetts12 x @UCLAWBB x @B1Gwbball pic.

twitter. com/aM6iUVLnlh — Big Ten Conference (@bigten) April 4, 2026 Inbounding the basketball was incredibly difficult for the Bruins UCLA’s offense wasn’t humming either. The Bruins turned it over an eye-catching 23 times and it certainly felt like it.