Phoenix – Despite going into the Final Four with the second-longest winning streak (30) and more experienced seniors (6) than any team there, few picked UCLA to win it all.
Even though the Bruins were undefeated in the formidable Big Ten Conference (18-0), won the conference tournament game by 44 points and blew through the NCAA tournament field en route to the semifinals, South Carolina or UConn were predicted to claim the national title. Just under 14 percent of brackets tagged the team from Los Angeles to win.
But UCLA’s dominant play on both sides of the court – buoyed by an unshakable belief in themselves – powered them to a dominant 79-51 win over South Carolina Sunday, in a game where they never trailed.
“Today was just a fantastic display of (our) resilience (and) intensity,” senior guard Kiki Rice said. “Just our will to win. We knew – we had a feeling this was our time – this was our year. We came out this entire weekend, and we would not be denied.”
Gabriela Jaquez lead all five starters with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Gianna Kneepkens put up 15 points, and Lauren Betts scored 14 and grabbed 11 rebounds. Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker each added 10 points.
After gutting out a 51-44 win over Texas Friday, the Bruins opened against the Gamecocks with hot shooting and suffocating defense, establishing a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter, which they never relinquished. They held South Carolina to 17 percent shooting, while playing a strong inside game that padded their lead to 36-23 at halftime.
UCLA opened the third period with a 12-3 run, and never looked back en route to the third-largest margin of victory for in a Division I women’s championship final. They held their opponents to just 95 points in the Final Four rounds.
Betts said that like Rice, she could feel her team’s momentum as they prepared for the final.
“I felt like yesterday I new that we were going to win, just because we were so focused,” she said. “When you have a certain energy in practice, you wake up the next morning….like, we have done everything you can possibly do to be ready for a game. It’s the confidence that you have.”
Coach Cori Close, who has been at the helm of the Bruin program for 15 years, was emotional afterwards.
“It’s immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine,” she said of the program’s first NCAA title. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
Jaquez and Rice have each been with the program four years. A Southern California native, Jaquez grew up dreaming of going to UCLA and winning a title. Going into the championship game, she scoffed at those who doubted her and her team.
“I think that’s funny that people say we’re underdogs. We don’t think that at all,” she said. “We have so much confidence in ourselves, and that’s why you can’t listen to the outside noise. We don’t care what they have to say. It’s just really important to stay focused on ourselves, and that’s what we’ve been doing all year long.”
Rice, from Bethesda, Maryland, stayed despite numerous transfers during her time with the program – including two last year who had been her high school teammates. She said winning a title was “why I came here.”
“I did envision it. I wanted to bring UCLA its first national championship,” she said. “Each year we grew a little bit, we got better, we built habits, we laid the foundation that we needed to and then the year after that, we improved on it. Having the ability to stick it through, to really see out everything that we all sought out, is super special. It makes this championship that much more special.”
For the Gamecocks, the game was a frustrating affair on both ends of the court, as they shot just 29 percent on the day and 13 percent from three, were outrebounded 37-49, and were able to dish just nine assists. Tessa Johnson and Agot Makeer were the only two players to score in double figures, with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Coach Dawn Staley, who was trying to garner the program’s fourth title in nine years, said their opponents made things difficult for them on court.
“In the first half, we had a lot of people taking shots that aren’t normal for us, so we didn’t do a good job of….getting some better looks to the ball,” she said. “I didn’t think we had to play perfect basketball, but we had to play better basketball. We had to make shots, created offense for our defense. We had to be better defensively. We didn’t apply enough pressure for us to make an impact on the offensive side of the ball.”
Close, who was mentored by UCLA coach John Wooden when she was in her 20’s, said she thinks he wouldn’t care as much about the championship as the way she and her athletes stayed true to their process.
“I hope I would make him proud by realizing and recognizing that this is a by-product of what’s happened in their habits, in their love for each other, in committing to a process over a long period of time.”
“When you just look at how the pyramid of success is built, the foundations, I just think he would be way ore interested in hearing about that journey than he would about the final product, because he knows that’s a by-product of what was happening on the inside.”
