2026 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Game: How to Watch, Preview and Game Thread - #1 Seed UCLA Bruins vs. #1 Seed South Carolina Gamecocks
UCLA seeks its first women's basketball title of the NCAA era when the Bruins play the South Carolina Gamecocks.
PHOENIX—This is the game we’ve all been waiting for. It’s one final opportunity for this year’s UCLA women’s basketball team to go 1-0. It’s the final game of the women’s college basketball season. The winners go home with the trophy. The losers go home wishing the game had gone differently.
For these Bruins, they are already champs. It’s been a season full of superlatives. Best UCLA women’s basketball record ever. Most wins in a season for any UCLA women’s hoops team ever. Longest UCLA women’s basketball winning streak. As of Friday night, they also have the longest current winning streak in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. Big Ten regular season champs. Big Ten Tournament champs. Undefeated conference schedule.
And those are just what these women have accomplished together as a team. It makes no mention at all of what they’ve accomplished individually. That doesn’t matter to these ladies. They truly do not care about individual achievement.
They only thing that matters is what they accomplish collectively.
Win or lose today, this team has earned its place in the lore that is UCLA basketball. The final score of today’s game will likely be forgotten if they lose to the Gamecocks.
Yet if they win, these Bruins will add to that already impressive résumé. They will add the accomplishment only 125 other UCLA teams have enjoyed: NCAA Champions.
South Carolina Gamecocks’ Starting Five
South Carolina is coached by Dawn Staley, who is in her 18th season coaching the Gamecocks and her 26th season as a head coach overall. She won her first national championship in 2016-17, and she has won two more since then. She will start a lineup with three guards, a forward and a center.
The Gamecocks are led by sophomore forward Joyce Edwards. She leads South Carolina with 19.5 ppg and with 71 steals. She is second on the team in rebounds with 6.7 rpg and in blocks with 44.
Senior transfer center Madina Okot is one of the tallest players on the South Carolina roster. She is listed as 6’6” tall, which means she may able to keep up with UCLA center Lauren Betts. Only 6’7 freshman forward Alicia Tournebize is taller. Okot is averaging 13.0 ppg, and she leads the team in rebounds with 10.8 rpg, in blocks with 55, and in three-point percentage with 48.1%.. Thankfully, she has only tried 27 threes all season.
Senior guard Ta'Niya Latson transferred to South Carolina after playing for Florida the past three years. Her 14.4 ppg is good for second on the team. She is second on the team in assists with 123 and third on the team in steals with 58.
While the final two starters are both named Johnson, they are not related. Junior Tessa Johnson averages 12.8 ppg and she is a deadly three-point shooter. Her 199 three-point attempts is more than the next two players combined and her 45.2% three-point percentage is the second highest on the team behind Okot.
Senior Raven Johnson averages 10.0 ppg, and her 41.4 three-point percentage isn’t quite as good as Tessa Johnson’s. Raven’s 202 assists is the best on the team and her 59 steals is second behind Edwards.
Freshman guard Agot Makeer will likely be the first player off the bench for Staley. She is averaging 7.2 ppg. Staley typically plays an eight-player rotation with sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel and senior forward Maryam Dauda being the other two players who are most likely to see playing time. They are averaging 4.4 ppg and 2.8 ppg, respectively.
Outlook
Today’s game is going to be another tough one. It should be. These teams are playing for the national championship after all.
Will it be another knockdown, drag-out, low-scoring fight like Friday night? I don’t think so.
While South Carolina is a 3.5-point favorite, just like on Friday, today’s game will hinge on the Bruins’ ability to start fast and take control of the game. If UCLA can take a four-point lead early, they should be able to win the game. These Bruins have’t blown a lead once all season, and there is no reason they will start doing that today in the biggest game of the season.
If they can’t get that lead early, it will become more difficult, but still not impossible.
The Bruins have been on a mission all season, and that goal is finally within reach. They just need to go 1-0 one more time.
Listen to the Game With TMB
Today’s game will be broadcast on ESPN and streamed on WatchESPN.com with Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe on the call. The postgame celebration will air on ESPN and stream on WatchESPN.com. Of course, you can choose to listen to Dave Marcus call the game for the Bruins by listening online or you can opt for the Westwood One national feed on satellite radio. To watch or listen online, just right-click on the links so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below.
This is your UCLA women’s basketball vs. South Carolina Gamecocks NCAA Women’s National Championship game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream today’s game:
NCAA Women’s National Championship Game
Opponents: #1 Seed UCLA Women’s Basketball (35-1) vs. #1 seed South Carolina Gamecocks (35-3)
Series Record: South Carolina leads, 4-2
When: 12:30 pm PT, Sunday, April 5, 2026
Where: Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix, AZ
TV: ABC with Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe
Live Stream:
Game: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Postgame: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Radio/Audio:
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 84 with Ryan Radtke, Debbie Antonelli and Ros Gold-Onwude (Westwood One)
Online: uclabruins.com with Dave MarcusLive Stats: NCAA Game Center
Tournament Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!! Beat (the other) SC!!! Bring home NC #126!!!
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The best player in this game so far has been Gabriela Jaquez. South Carolina has no answer for her energy and ability to be that multi-dimensional, attacking inside while playing solid defense. If she can avoid a few ticky-tack fouls, she should continue to remain a problem.
Lauren Betts is a PROBLEM. South Carolina does not have the size like Texas does to contain her on the interior, which is leading to easy points, and she is on fire on the defensive end. She blocks a shot that leads to a Gabriela Jaquez runout layup and a timeout by South Carolina, and the Bruins have a 22-point lead. There are a lot of stunned fans in Gamecock gear here.