UCLA Triumphs Over South Carolina For First-Ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Title
The UCLA Bruins have made history by clinching their first-ever NCAA Women’s Basketball championship after dominating the South Carolina Gamecocks 79-51 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz. earlier today. While the Big Ten Conference team had never won the title since the student athletics organization adopted women’s basketball as an official sport in 1982, the Bruins’ win was decisive, as they took on a 36-23 lead at halftime.
The Bruins are the first new champions of the NCAA era following South Carolina’s inaugural win in 2017. More from Deadline Final Four + Pam Bondi Firing Heats Up 'SNL' Cold Open With Rare Wit & Twists Teens Are Over Superheroes, Want To See More "Connected Masculinity" Onscreen, Says Survey College Football Playoff National Championship: How To Watch Indiana Vs. Miami On TV & Online The favored-to-win Gamecocks struggled to gel offensively and defensively as they looked to win their fourth title.
UCLA previously showed the longest odds to win the tournament coming into the Final Four. Last season, the Bruins had advanced to their first Final Four, where they were beat out by eventual champion, the UConn Huskies. UCLA features five senior starters — Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens — and six players who are likely to be drafted into the WNBA come next week.
(Jaquez led all scorers with 21 points, while Kneepkens added 15 points and Betts achieved a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. ) They comprise the first group to earn a title for the UCLA women since the Ann Meyers Drysdale-led 1978 AIAW national championship win in the pre-NCAA era. The Bruins have now won NCAA championships in 11 different women’s sports, and its basketball triumph adds a 46th overall title for the university’s women’s teams in the NCAA era.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times ahead of the weekend, senior center Betts said of the final game: “I think in the back of our heads, we all know that this is our last go at this. It’s all or nothing for all of us. ” The team was led to March Madness victory by Cori Close, in her 15th season as the UCLA women’s basketball coach.