Indianapolis – Lauren Betts sat and held diagonally in the interview room, championship hat and championship hat, smiling for a selfie along with teammates Kiki Rice and Rondin Jones.
This photo captured more than a moment of combined effort that required a Sunday afternoon inside Gainbridge Field House.
Regardless of their obstacles to the tournament, Betts and her UCLA teammates had a counter. Foul trouble, ugly sales, double-digit deficits against opponents who handed over the Bruins the only two losses of this season – they couldn’t stop this team on this day.
After second-seeded UCLA endured every challenge and brought together a 72-67 victory over top-seeded USC in the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship, the Bruins fell from midcourts, streamers and banknotes.
Finally, after a disappointing loss in the Gallen Center Trojan, followed by a further deserted set-off against rivals at the Paulie Pavilion, the Bruins convened a strong rebuttal towards the most important stretch of the season.
Tears flowed freely in the smiles on the court as players and coaches celebrated UCLA’s first tournament championship since winning the Pac-10 title in 2006.
“Huh humbled to see them being so grateful they have been so grateful that they have been patient, growing, finding ways to win, finding ways to commit themselves,” UCLA coach Coli Close said after a victory that may have secured the overall seed for her team in the NCAA Tournament. “The group just said, ‘We’re going to find a way.’ There was no panic. ”
UCLA coach Kohliclos celebrates after winning USC for the Bruins at the Big Ten Tournament Championship on Sunday.
(Michael Conroy/Applications)
UCLA (30-2), which scored 13 points early in the third quarter, has smartly adjusted Juju Watkins. The USC superstar scored 18 of the 29 points in the first half.
Watkins only took two free throws and only made four of his 15 shots after halftime.
“We struggled in the second half,” Watkins said dullly after not being able to match the efficiency of the first two games of the series. She scored 38 points at Gallen Center and 30 points at Paulie Pavilion, with the Trojans (28-3) winning the regular season title at the conference.
Channeling the words of legendary UCLA coach John Wood and asking his players to be in the best condition when they need the best, Betts took her play to another level in the fourth quarter. Her three blocks for the final 10 minutes included Watkins’s emphatic rejection. She also ran through the double team for a layup that raised UCLA to 66-60 with 45 seconds remaining.
UCLA Center’s Lauren Betts will shoot USC Center’s Clarice Aknwafo late Sunday.
(Michael Conroy/Applications)
“I think it was mentality that went in the second half. “Kiki also spoke to me in the locker room. It reminded me that I wouldn’t get a call, but I have to keep playing hard and the outcome speaks for itself.”
Rice and Jones (13 points each) each added two free throws to block the Trojan gathering.
Betts scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, adding five rebounds and four blocks to win the tournament’s best player award. The UCLA band serenaded Betts by chanting her name when the awards were announced.
“I don’t have words now and I’m not going to lie,” Betts said after a while after taking a post-game selfie. “Unspeakable.”
Watkins scored in two college seasons with the second point to record Iowa’s Kate Linklark, the NCAA’s all-time all-time scorer. Watkins’ 1,684 points will only track Ohio’s Kelsey Mitchell (1,762), with six games remaining to set a record.
That would be useless as a comforting consideration given how her team was doing. The Trojan created two of the 15 3-pointers in the second half, enduring long scoreless stretches, with no 15 consecutive shots at one point. Close notes that her team had nine kills. This is defined as a defensive halt for three consecutive times.
Both teams were sloppy, and the Bruins forced 19 turnovers while committing 24. However, in many cases, UCLA took the lead from the coach. Crows spurred encouragement after Jones lost the ball handle due to a turnover in the open lane towards the basket midway through the fourth quarter.
USC’s Talia von Oelhoffen tracked 48-35 after filling in the 3-pointer to open three quarters. They used a 16-2 surge at the end of the third quarter and took a 58-54 lead at the start of the fourth quarter after Rice cast his own mistake. UCLA was on the way.
This was a moment that felt like a lifetime of making-of-home louse, as it was always shorter during its first 13 seasons at school in search of the conference title. Whether it was Stanford’s longtime domination or a pocket of glow from Oregon before the emergence of Watkins and the Trojan horses, Crows’ team never managed to break through. Until Sunday.
After climbing the ladder and cutting out the final strands of nets into one basket, I closed the nylon over my head as a UCLA fan rowed onto the floor. Crows then thanked former Stanford assistant coach Julie Planck for encouraging her at high school camp when others said they were too short and too late.
“She pulled me aside after camp and said, ‘You can do this,'” Close said, “And she was here tonight. I hold her and say thank you.”
Given what unfolded, it was the Trojans who were in the mood for celebration at halftime. USC’s Clarice Aknwafo blocked Elina Arnizaro’s jumper, and Kennedy Smith zipped the pass from under the basket to Avery Howell.
The Trojan player flaps his towels on the bench before raiding the court to insurrect his teammates. Almost all the remaining celebrations belong to the Bruins after refusing to fold.
“When I entered the locker room at halftime, I really wondered what their eyes would look like,” Close said of her players. They knew they weren’t doing their best, so they didn’t do what we needed to do, but they still believed they could turn it around.
“I just said, “Look, here’s where it’s. If you can’t win the toughness battle and ownership battle, we won’t win if you can’t get a stop, we won’t win). How bad do you want to win? What does this mean to you? They said, “We’ve got you, coach. We’ll accomplish this. So, to hold on to 3 points in the third and 13 points in the fourth, I think I can believe them.”
There is always a chance that there will always be another chapter in the rivalry this season. Both of these teams were number one seed in the NCAA Tournament and were able to meet again at the Final Four in Tampa, Florida.
“I remember the first time I played at their place,” Close said before referring to USC’s counterpart. “Lindsay (Gottlieb) said. I think we both mean we’re the number one seed. I think you have to prove yourself, right? Your play needs to back it up and we hope we can get a fourth chance in Tampa.”
