The UCLA women's basketball team survived a bit of a scare on Friday night as they took down the Southern Jaguars 84-46.
Southern punched the Bruins in the mouth during the second quarter of the contest and took advantage of UCLA's moderate start to pull within 12 at halftime.
Luckily, UCLA had its star player, junior center Lauren Betts, who came through for her team and led the program to their third-straight opening-round victory in the NCAA Tournament.
Lauren Betts saves UCLA against scrappy Southern team
It was obvious from the opening tip that UCLA had a massive advantage inside the paint, but the Bruins were unable to handle Southern's pressure and reliably get the ball inside. When they did, multiple Jaguars collapsed on Betts and made her kick the ball out, relying on her teammates who had a rough time scoring the ball in the second quarter.
Fortunately, Betts was able to find ways to be effective on both ends of the floor as she finished with a game-high 14 points and three blocks. She only took nine shots and also dished out four assists, proving once again that she can impact the game in a variety of ways.
Betts is up for both the Naismith National Player of the Year Award and the National Defensive Player of the Year Award, and performances like this will surely help her case. It may not have looked dominant in the box score, but anyone who watched the game knows that the team could not have won without its star player.
She'll be the focal point of every opponent's game plan going forward, so if players like Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, and Angela Dugalic can continue to step up when the Bruins need them to, then this team could be well on their way to the first Final Four appearance in program history.
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