UCLA women clamp down after halftime, steamroll Cal Baptist 96-43 in March Madness

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — After giving up five 3-pointers in a competitive first half, UCLA had seen enough. The Bruins allowed just one in a dominant second half on the way to a 96-43 rout of Cal Baptist in the opening round of March Madness on Saturday night.

The top-seeded Bruins (32-1) were led by Lauren Betts with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Kiki Rice had 18 points — making all 10 of her free throws — to go with seven assists as UCLA opened its bid to return to the Final Four for a second straight year.

UCLA advanced to a second-round matchup against Oklahoma State (24-9) on Monday.

Buoyed by their raucous fans who traveled 67 miles from Riverside, the scrappy Lancers (23-10) kept it close for 20 minutes. They led by three points early before UCLA's 14-3 run put the Bruins back in front to end the first quarter ahead 23-15.

“We had nothing to lose,” Lancers guard Filipa Barros said, “so we just had to come with everything.”

After two straight baskets by Betts pushed UCLA's lead to 12, Chance Bucher hit back-to-back 3-pointers that got the Lancers within six early in the second quarter. Their sixth 3 of the half left Cal Baptist trailing by five before UCLA went into halftime ahead 44-34.

“We just went for it and that’s not an easy thing to do on the road in the NCAA tournament," Lancers coach Jarrod Olson said. “In the 20 minutes we showed we can belong.”

Then the Bruins got down to business.

They outscored the Lancers 52-9 over the final two quarters. Cal Baptist finished 6 of 30 from 3-point range.

It was a complete turnaround for the Bruins, who got off to a slow start that included two quick turnovers by Betts and another by her younger sister, Sienna Betts.

“It was unacceptable,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “It's not the fact that we missed shots. It's when we don't execute the scouting report, when we are lackadaisical, when we don't communicate, when we're not connected. Those are the controllable things that we made a commitment to each other that we would deliver on. We let each other down in the first half on that.”

Cal Baptist shot just 4 of 33 from the floor in the second half. Bucher had 11 points as the only player in double figures for the WAC regular season and tournament champion Lancers.

They were hampered when WAC defensive player of the year Emma Johansson picked up three fouls in nine minutes to start the game. She managed just one block after being the Division I leader in total blocks this season.

In 2024, the Lancers were making their NCAA Tournament debut and were beaten 84-55 by the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion.

Cal Baptist's men's team also made March Madness and lost to Kansas 68-65 on Friday.

The Betts sisters, along with Angela Dugalic, had double-doubles for the Bruins.

Freshman Sienna had 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds in her March Madness debut. She didn't start playing until mid-December after dealing with a leg injury.

“She had a moment in the game where she like literally kept missing and getting her own rebound," Lauren Betts said. “I was like, ‘Sienna, just make the shot’ and she's laughing. She's not serious.”

The sisters' efforts helped UCLA to a 62-21 advantage on the boards, including a whopping 41-13 on the defensive glass.

“We need to be amazing rebounders if we want to get through this tournament,” Lauren Betts said.

Dugalic had 10 points and 11 boards.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness