UCLA faces South Carolina for NCAA women's basketball championship
· Yahoo Sports
UCLA will seek its first NCAA women's basketball championship Sunday when it faces South Carolina in Phoenix in a matchup of two of the tournament's top four seeds.
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The second-seeded Bruins (36-1) advanced to their first NCAA women's basketball final with a 51-44 victory over third-seeded Texas Friday, avenging their only loss of the season and extending their winning streak to 30 games.
The fourth-seeded Gamecocks (36-3) advanced to their third consecutive final with a 62-48 victory over top-seeded Connecticut Friday, avenging a loss in last year's final.
The game will mark the end of the college careers for all five of UCLA's starters -- center Lauren Betts, guards Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kiki Rice and forwards Gabriela Jaquez and Gianna Kneepkens.
"All of the seniors, knowing that is our last game together, it means a lot,'' Betts said at a news conference Saturday. The journey that we've had together... We've helped each other throughout our toughest times, built each other back up.
"We've worked so hard to get here. For me, it's not really about thewins and the losses, it's about this entire journey that we've had together. These girls are my best friends.''
Betts, Jaquez and Rice are seniors while Kneepkens and Leger-Walker are graduate students.
The 6-foot-7-inch Betts said sacrifice is the key to the team.
"You look at every girl on this team, they could go to any team that they want and average however many points they want,'' Betts said. I think to really sacrifice yourself and your ego and be able to put that aside for a bigger purpose.
"I think when you're in moments like this, it makes it all worth it. This is what we wanted. This is why we all came here. Especially for this core group of people to come back and to believe in what we wanted to do, it's amazing.''
Betts is the Bruins' leading scorer, averaging 17.2 points per game. Three teammates are also averaging in double figures -- Rice (15.1), Jaquez (13.3) and Kneepkens (12.8).
Sophomore forward Joyce Edwards averages 19.5 points per game to lead South Carolina, while four teammates also score in double figures.
UCLA trails the series with South Carolina, 4-2, but won the most recent meeting, 77-62, on Nov. 24, 2024.
"I just remember as a post just having a big job defensively, having to get their post out of the paint,'' said Betts, who pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds and scored 11 points, among five Bruins to reach double figures.
"Rebounding is going to be huge, trying to limit them to one shot.''
Oddsmakers have made the Gamecocks a 3 1/2-point favorite. ESPN's Matchup Predictor gives South Carolina a 52.5% chance of winning, the Bruins a 47.5% chance.
The 12:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time game from the Mortgage Matchup Center will be televised by ABC.
A watch party will be held at Pauley Pavilion. Admission is free, but tickets are required. They are available at ucla.evenue.net/events/WBBNCAA. Gates will open at noon.
UCLA won the national championship in 1978 and finished fourth in 1979 when the tournament was conducted by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which stopped operations in 1982. The NCAA began conducting a women's basketball tournament in 1982.
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