The UCLA women's basketball team will face Ole Miss in Spokane for their Sweet 16 matchup. Before leaving for Washington, however, Kiki Rice wanted to make sure to express how thankful she was for the amount of support the team received from Bruins fans. Playing a Second Round game on campus gives March Madness a unique atmosphere, and the guard wanted to take a moment to acknowledge how special it was.
Defeating Richmond 84-67 in front of the Pauley Pavilion faithful, the ensuing spectacular on-court display was then equally matched by the strong show of support from the over 6,000 in attendance. Sometimes a crowd can get taken out of the game, especially when the visitors come up with momentum-breaking plays themselves. When a lead becomes too much, sometimes a sense of almost boredom can overtake an arena.
This proved to be far from the case, as the UCLA supporters enthusiastically pushed their team on to the Sweet 16 throughout all four quarters of play. This is a program that is spearheaded by Rice and Lauren Betts, and after their strong third-quarter push, the celebrations seemingly began right then and there.
Speaking on the environment, Rice expressed her appreciation after the game:
"That was definitely one of my favorite crowds that I played in front of at Pauley. Their energy and really how they cared, especially in that third quarter to kind of bring us that extra boost, we really appreciated that."
Watching her reflect on how much the support for the UCLA program meant to her, especially in that moment, clearly shows how much of a positive difference fans can make. It's less about the noise and more about the outpouring that the players on this team felt. This has, furthermore, been the case, not just against Richmond, but throughout the season.
The junior will now lead the offense, as she has done to this point at an exceptionally high level, without a decided home court advantage. Regardless of how this March Madness run ends, however, the overall engulfing wave of strong fandom is something that will last with her and her teammates for a lifetime.
Stand-out UCLA women's basketball support
Nothing is more electric than an NCAA tournament venue, and Pauley Pavilion did an excellent job in creating the needed atmosphere. Los Angeles may have a lot more options compared to most college towns, but the passion for UCLAWB was a notable presence throughout the win.
They will like their chances to ultimately return to campus with a banner unveiling. Only, they won't want to see any other words on the tapestry except 'champion' and the year hanging from the already crowded rafters.
Now set to face the Rebels, expect a significant, equally passionate contingency to make the trip and stick around for games should they continue to progress. For UCLA women's basketball, in what was the culminating game at home, it ended on an extraordinary high note. This is something that doesn't always happen in sports, so when it does, those supporting their Bruins deserve a tremendous amount of credit.