SPOKANE, Wash. — As Lauren Betts was trapped in the post, she passed the ball out to an open Gabriel Jaquez, who knocked down the dagger 3-pointer to send the UCLA women’s basketball team to its first NCAA tournament Final Four in program history, beating LSU 72-65.
It was UCLA’s 10th 3-pointer of the game, the key to its offense against an LSU team that shut the Bruins down in the paint all night. UCLA scored just 16 points in the paint after dominating down low all tournament.
However, the Bruins did shoot 41.7% from the perimeter, and 20 of their 24 attempts were open, per ESPN Research. Jaquez hit a career-high four 3s and led the Bruins with 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting, also adding eight assists. Betts finished with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting and seven rebounds.
It was a game of runs. The Bruins struck first, jumping out to a 5-2 lead in the first three minutes. But through the final seven minutes of the period, it was all LSU, which outscored UCLA 11-2.
Betts picked up her second foul midway through the quarter, marking the first time she had committed multiple fouls in a single quarter in her career. With her on the bench for the rest of the quarter, UCLA went 0-of-6 from the floor and was a minus-4.
But something clicked for the Bruins in the second quarter. With Betts still on the bench, UCLA went on a 14-4 run, getting a massive boost from Timea Gardiner, who knocked down three 3-pointers. On the other end, LSU guard Mikaylah Williams committed five turnovers.
LSU forward Aneesah Morrow did everything she could to take advantage of the moments Betts was out of the game — she went 1-of-4 when contested by Betts in the first quarter and 3-of-5 against any other defender. Still, the Tigers registered their second-lowest point total in a half this season.
UCLA started the second half on yet another run, ballooning their 6-point lead up to 15. But the end of the quarter, that lead had been cut down to five. LSU star Flau’Jae Johnson scored 24 of her 28 points in the second half and put together a run of her own down the stretch of the fourth to get the Tigers back within five. From there, it was a back-and-forth until Jaquez’s shot.
UCLA previously won an AIAW title and appeared in two semifinals in that women’s basketball tournament but had never made it past the Elite Eight in the NCAA era, which began in 1982.
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