Final Four Bound! Bruins Cut Down the Nets at the Spokane 1 Regional with Win Over LSU
The UCLA women's basketball team will continue their Quest For 125 on Friday in Tampa.
Last weekend, I wrote how things “felt different” inside Pauley Pavilion as UCLA hosted the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Today, we saw further proof as the team overcame the fact that Lauren Betts was limited to just six minutes in the first half. We saw a team that had struggled in the second quarter of both games last weekend take over a game without their star player and leading scorer.
In the postgame press conferences, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said:
“The game was lost in the second quarter. That's where the game was lost. We didn't capitalize on Betts being off the floor.”
UCLA head coach Cori Close disagreed. When asked if she agreed with Mulkey’s assessment, Close explained:
“I honestly thought the run -- the game was won when they came back from, I think, we were up 14, I think, at one point, when they came back and I think cut it to five, and I think the game was won in the poise and the choice to go back to neutral, get ourselves refocused, and make the next right step. That's where I think the game was won.”
Here are both teams’ postgame press conferences. Both videos are courtesy of the NCAA/March Madness on YouTube.
Personally, I think they’re both correct.
On one hand, Mulkey’s right because LSU’s failure to capitalize on Lauren Betts having to sit down for an entire quarter saw the Bruins step up and outscore the Tigers 22-12 during that quarter.
On the other hand, LSU went on a 12-3 run to end the third quarter and they cut the Bruins’ lead from 14 points down to just five heading into the fourth. UCLA began the fourth quarter matching LSU point-for-point over the first six and a half minutes of the quarter. Had the Bruins stumbled to start the fourth, the result may have been different.
Of course, John Wooden defined Competitive Greatness as being at your best when your best is needed. For the 2024-25 UCLA women’s basketball team today, there should be little doubt that this team displayed that quality on the court today against LSU.
It’s fitting that this win is the one which is sending them to the school’s first NCAA Women’s Final Four with a chance to bring home the program’s second national championship and first NCAA women’s basketball title next weekend.
Despite the fact that Cori Close has said several times over the past few weeks that she wanted to see Southern Cal play well because it’s good for the game of women’s basketball in Los Angeles, the players didn’t want to say whether they will be rooting for their crosstown rivals tomorrow when they play UConn in their regional final.
When asked about it, Lauren Betts replied, “What kind of question….” and she interrupted answer to laugh at the question before finishing by saying, “Yeah, no comment.” Meanwhile, Cori Close jumped in and said, “We don’t care who we play.”
As much as it kills me to say it, I think most Bruin fans will be rooting for the Trojans tomorrow and for South Carolina on Friday because, well, it would be amazing to beat both USCs in the Final Four to win the national championship.
Before I wrap up today, I’m going to share a few videos. First up, we have the players dumping confetti Cori Close, courtesy of NCAA March Madness on X.
Next up is Gabriela Jaquez updating the Spokane 1 Regional bracket on the court after the Bruins won, also courtesy of NCAA March Madness on X.
Of course, the team got to cut down the net after the game. Here’s video of Lauren Betts taking her turn, courtesy of Yahoo! Sports.
Finally, we’re going to leave you with video of UCLA head coach Cori Close cutting down the net at the Spokane 1 Regional. This video is courtesy of Eden Laase of On3 on X.
Go Bruins!!! Bring home NCAA Title #125 next weekend!!!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
Great job Joe. Like no other news agency. This is awesome. Thank you.
Thank you Joe!
That was a great test against - all due respect to Richmond, Ole Miss, and most of the rest of the NCAA women's basketball world - one of the 4 or 5 teams that are truly in the same peer group as UCLA. Grew a lot in the 2nd quarter and in holding off the surge. Great team win and on to Tampa!