The UCLA Bruins send off their six seniors as national champions with dominating win over South Carolina

UCLA Bruins are officially NCAA champions for the first time in their school history! Their last title came in 1978 before it became the NCAA tournament. The ladies finish the season 37-1 and put on an absolute defensive clinic this season. Outside of their loss to Texas earlier in the season. UCLA completely dominated almost everyone on their schedule. They shook off an early injury to Lauren Betts to steamroll their way to a win in this one. As it seemed, she was battling something in her throat and missed more than half of the first quarter.

UCLA was locked in from the start as they opened the game winning the tipoff and feeding Betts early down low for a bucket. They never trailed in this game and displayed how good they are on offense and their elite defense. There was a time in the second and third quarter where they struggled to break the full court press. But Kiki Rice checked back in and helped solve those issues. UCLA held South Carolina to only 29% shooting on the day. They averaged 88 points per game during the tournament and UCLA held them to only 51.

UCLA was up 36-23 at half time and then came out in the third quarter and outscored South Carolina 25-9. Ballooning the lead out to 61-32 after three quarters. As the suspense started to build up that UCLA was really going to do this. Cori Close coached a wonderful game and had to make some adjustments. The Bruins again got major production off of the bench from Angela Dugalić on offense and defense. She will be a great WNBA player as she can do it all.

Betts goes out on top with the championship and another double double to show for it. She was absolutely amazing during the NCAA tournament and completely unstoppable. Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez stepped up big time on the biggest stage. Especially with Betts out early, offense needed to be adjusted and they did just that. It’s just amazing to see the absolute defensive clinic. The Bruins put on this year and now they have a championship to show for it as they win 79-51!