Los Angeles, CA- Senior Starting Center Lauren Betts went to the bench early before finishing with a double-double, 22 points and 10 boards while grabbing key putbacks to help her team unlock the combination of an unyielding Cal Baptist’s first half and an unstoppable second half run to secure another opening round NCAA tournament victory at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night, 96-43.
The Bruins (32-1) trailed in the first few minutes of the game after predictions of a 52.5 spread and only led by ten points entering halftime, 44-34 while the Lancers (23-10) were able to keep up behind some hot shooting from deep, knocking down almost everything but the kitchen sink.
“I want to just compliment Cal Baptist…and their sustained excellence…how they play to their identity,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said. “They had just sort of a relentless hustle about them knowing who they are… they had a great season. They’re very well coached. Obviously, those kinds of matchups are difficult for us as big as we are. We couldn’t take advantage of it as much in the first half on offense and then defensively it really spreads us out.”
Cal Baptist brought March madness to a disappointed UCLA head coach, Cori Close, in the first half, calling out her team’s “unacceptable” play to which her team responded with a 31-4 third quarter run, holding their 16 seeded opponent to only one three-pointer in second half after connecting on five in the first.
“I mean in my opinion that’s the best team in the country and we gave them all they could handle for about 20 minutes,” Cal Baptist Head Coach Jarrod Olson said, “Unfortunately, you know, whatever Cori said to them at halftime really kind of got them going in the second half.”
Senior Guard KiKi Rice was a key part of that second half charge, scoring 18 points, 10 of those points came from a perfect trip to the charity stripe, along with seven rebounds and four assists.
Bruins posted five players in double figures including three front court players with double-doubles in points and rebounds. UCLA out-rebounded Cal Baptist 62-21, 41 of those 62 grabbed off the defensive glass.
“I feel like that’s something that we really emphasized all week in practice that we need to be amazing rebounders if you want to get through this tournament,” L. Betts said. “I think that’s just all the hard work that we did in practice translated into the game today.”
Chance Bucher led Cal Baptist in scoring with 11 points as sole Lancers double-digit scorer, which included knocking down two triples in a row to close on the Bruins’ lead right before her team went cold hitting only four and five points in the last two quarters. They shot a dismal 4 out of 33 from the field in the final half.
“Yeah, I think in that first half we were just playing basketball like that’s something that we emphasized a lot like going into this game like
it’s just basketball,” Bucher said, “I think we succeeded in doing that in the first half and that’s what kept us so close.”
Unfortunately for the Lancers, the Bruins did not allow them a fairytale ending and understood their assignment to keep a glass slipper on for this Cinderella team to exit the ball before midnight despite leaving it all on the floor.
“I think in the locker room it was made very clear to us that we needed to do a better job and that was before the coaches came in,” Angela Dugalic said. “Like Coach Cori said, Cal Baptist is a great team and a great shooting team and we didn’t execute our scouting report to our best potential. I think in the second half we did a better job because we were all on the same page and we understood what we had to do.”
UCLA unpacked their uncharacteristic sluggish start to not underestimating their higher seeded opponent or expecting a cake walk but leaned towards them unfollowing their game plan from the onset and Cal Baptist playing unhinged with a style of play that took time to adjust and attack before unraveling any hope of upset.
“I believe in our team. I love this team,” coach Close said. “This has been one of the most fun teams I’ve ever coached and it’s been one of the most hardworking teams that I’ve ever coached. And every game presents some different learning points and challenges. I’ve really got great confidence in this team that we will look at this game and go okay you know what did this teach us—what are the pivots and adjustments that need to be made and we will come out ready to go on Monday.”
UCLA advances to face Oklahoma State (24-9) in the second round after having to endure a mixed home crowd with Cal Baptist whom had supporters traveling approximately 70 miles from Riverside to cheer on the WAC regular season and tournament champion in their second tournament appearance in three years.
