UCLA women edge Texas in Final Four to reach title game

PHOENIX – Dancing all postseason, one victory after another followed by lively celebrations, the UCLA women’s basketball team waited for the biggest stage to unveil its best move.

A Texas-sidestep, if you will.

With every point coming at a premium, the Bruins outmaneuvered the fellow top-seeded Longhorns in the Final Four, a 51-44 victory in a national semifinal Friday night inside the Mortgage Matchup Center continuing their joyous run through the postseason.

Now comes the last dance.

The Bruins will get to play for their first NCAA championship in program history.

It required a breathless finish after UCLA nearly blew a 13-point lead in the final 4½ minutes. Having shaved its deficit to three points, Texas got the ball back before running into a brick wall named Lauren Betts.

The UCLA center blocked a driving layup by Madison Booker with 20 seconds left. Bruins point guard Kiki Rice went on to make four free throws, helping UCLA (36-1) hold on for its program-record 30th consecutive victory.

The Bruins celebrated by engaging in a spirited eight-clap in front of fans behind their team bench.

After prevailing in one rematch against the Longhorns, UCLA avoided another after South Carolina shocked UConn in the other semifinal, ending the Huskies’ 54-game winning streak.

So the Bruins will face the Gamecocks on Sunday afternoon instead of UConn, which had blown out the Bruins by 34 points in a national semifinal a year ago.

With one more victory, the Bruins’ 1978 AIAW championship banner – won by the legendary Ann Meyers Drysdale and Denise Curry – would get some company in the Pauley Pavilion rafters.

Getting to the championship game required persevering through some epic cold shooting spells and sloppy stretches.

Betts led the way with her most essential double-double of the season, each one of her 16 points and 11 rebounds a necessity. Rice added 11 points for the Bruins, who won despite committing 23 turnovers because they held the Longhorns (35-4) to 30.8% shooting.

The Bruins reserves surged off the bench to celebrate early in the fourth quarter after Rice buried a 3-pointer and Gabriela Jaquez made a layup in transition off a steal and outlet pass from Charlisse-Leger Walker, forcing Texas to call a timeout.

Those baskets stretched UCLA’s lead to 38-28, matching its largest advantage of the game.

UCLA’s second game against Texas in five months in no way resembled the first, when the Bruins quickly fell into a 10-point hole that deepened to 20 by halftime.

UCLA coach Cori Close said the resulting loss was one that made her team question how much it wanted to win.

Badly, it turned out.

Opening with the heightened level of aggression that it wanted, UCLA made every Texas possession a slog while holding the Longhorns to just six points in the first quarter.

It was the first blow in a series of wild momentum swings.

Finally unleashing the defensive intensity for which it’s known, Texas started forcing turnovers. Gianna Kneepkens was double-teamed and lost the ball. Leger-Walker had the ball stripped, leading to a layup in transition.

What had been a 10-point UCLA lead early in the game was soon down to three. The Bruins’ 20-17 halftime advantage read like a score from a bygone era.

But this wasn’t a complete throwback. Avenging its only loss of the season allowed UCLA another dawn in a season that’s still going, one more step to be taken toward a title.

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