Paige Bueckers hits career-high 40 points in March Madness game vs Oklahoma
UConn star Paige Bueckers reminds media that her teammates helped her reach this career mark. The Huskies will move on to the Elite 8 round of the women’s NCAA tournament.
SPOKANE, Washington — In a season of firsts, this is the best one yet for UCLA women’s basketball.
First No. 1 ranking. Overall No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. And now, a first-ever trip to the Final Four.
The Bruins made an emphatic statement that they are the team to beat next weekend with a gritty 72-65 win over LSU. Talent, depth and toughness — it was all on display as UCLA had to turn back rally after rally from LSU, including a can’t-miss fourth quarter from Flau’jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow’s comeback from a broken nose.
But UCLA has been on a mission all season, and no way they weren’t going to complete it. When the final buzzer sounded, Gabriela Jaquez and Lauren Betts leapt in the air. The UCLA players on the bench rushed onto the court and the team bounced and jumped together at midcourt.
“Super proud,” Jaquez, the heart and soul of this UCLA team, said. “We just worked so hard all season.”
It’s fitting UCLA beat LSU to finally get to the Final Four, considering it was a loss to the Tigers in the Sweet 16 last season that propelled the Bruins to their historic season. They freely admit they were out-toughed and outclassed down the stretch during that game, and they’ve spent the last year ensuring that would never happen again.
“A lot of our learning from last year was from that game,” Kiki Rice said Saturday.
The Bruins spent much of the season at No. 1, and earned the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Their only two losses were to crosstown rival USC, and UCLA avenged those with a decisive win in the Big Ten tournament championship game.
But those superlatives, impressive and important for the program’s future as they are, would have meant little if UCLA didn’t make the Final Four. LSU gave the Bruins all they could handle, Johnson and Morrow in particular.
Morrow needed treatment for a bloody nose at the end of the third quarter but returned to play the fourth quarter. Johnson, who has been nursing injuries the last several weeks, had 16 of her 28 points in the fourth, trying desperately to drag LSU back into the game.
Every time LSU got close, however, Betts and Jaquez responded. They didn’t work all year to come up short again.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
