UCLA routs South Carolina for first ever girls’s basketball title – NBC Los Angeles

UCLA has made faculty basketball historical past.

The No. 1-seeded Bruins routed fellow No. 1 seed South Carolina 79-51 within the girls’s NCAA Tournament championship recreation Sunday, dominating from begin to end.

Led by head coach Cori Shut, the Bruins entered with a robust four-woman rotation in Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez and Gianna Kneepkens. All 4 are attainable excessive picks within the upcoming WNBA draft.

South Carolina, anchored by head coach Daybreak Staley, had been led by Joyce Edwards, Ta’Niya Latson, Madina Okot and Tessa Johnson, however the distinction in high quality was evident with a title on the road.

Let’s analyze the sport additional with winners and losers:

WINNER: Bruins’ high quality shines

Often the crew with the higher gamers will ship when it issues most (there’s at all times the exceptions, after all). UCLA, as aforementioned, had the person high quality edge over South Carolina and it was on show from the start.

Betts, Kneepkens, Jaquez, Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker, the fifth starter, all eclipsed double-digit factors on environment friendly taking pictures. Jaquez led the best way with 21 factors, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, Kneepkens added 15 factors, Betts posted 14 factors and 11 rebounds and Rice and Leger-Walker logged 10 factors apiece. They had been merely an excessive amount of to deal with.

LOSER: Again-to-back heartbreaks

Final yr, the Gamecocks made all of it the best way to the ultimate earlier than falling to Paige Bueckers-led UConn. That is a neater tablet to swallow, contemplating she went on to be the highest decide and already seems to be like a WNBA celebrity.

However embarking on a second straight journey to the ultimate to lose once more is a a lot greater tablet, whatever the opponent. On the brilliant facet, Staley is likely one of the greatest coaches within the enterprise and has delivered three titles in 2017, 2022 and 2024. However this loss will sting till it is time to take the court docket once more.

WINNER: Program historical past

UCLA’s basketball applications haven’t had any main successes because the flip of the century. The lads’s basketball crew has 11 NCAA titles to its title, however the final got here in 1995. The ladies’s crew had by no means received the natty.

However that is now modified, and it took only one probability for them to do it. Final season, the Bruins, with the same core, fell within the Last 4 in a blowout loss to UConn. This time, they made positive to not waste a golden alternative because the headliners put together for the subsequent stage of their respective careers. The success and program location also needs to assist recruiting the subsequent batch of attainable stars.

LOSER: Gamecocks’ stars wrestle

South Carolina did effectively to upset a UConn facet led by Azzi Fudd and Sarah Sturdy, exposing their weaknesses to a excessive stage. However doing so in opposition to 4 strong UCLA prospects is a harder activity that consumes extra vitality, and it did not appear the Gamecocks had the legs to final on offense and protection.

Edwards, the No. 1 choice, struggled with simply eight factors on 3 of 10 taking pictures, whereas Okot performed simply 13 minutes and went 3 of 9 for six factors. Latson went 1 of 5 for 4 factors, whereas Johnson led the crew with 14 factors on a 6 of 12 clip. Agot Makeer chipped in with 11 factors in 23 bench minutes.

WINNER: Cori Shut, UCLA

Sarah Stier/Getty Photos

Sarah Stier/Getty Photos

Shut has been the Bruins’ head coach since 2011-12. Fifteen years later, she’s delivered the largest prize within the competitors. The 54-year-old from Milpitas, Calif., received the WNIT in 2014-15, however did not get near tasting championship success till final season’s Last 4 run.

However now that the last word win is achieved, Shut can unlock a brand new stage to her head-coaching arsenal if she optimizes the second. She additionally led the Bruins to a outstanding 37-1 file, the lone loss coming to Texas on Nov. 26, a 76-65 defeat. However they received their revenge within the Last 4 with a grind-it-out 51-44 win to ultimately turn out to be champions.

UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez, contemporary off serving to the Bruins win the Huge Ten event title, is embracing her last March Insanity run with a tight-knit crew and household inspiration from her brother Miami Warmth ahead Jaime Jaquez Jr.