It was dominating. It was overwhelming. It was powder-blue pummeling, eight-clap crushing, Westwood wonderful.
It was the UCLA women’s basketball team needing barely two hours to complete the struggles of 45 years, a stunningly swarming triumph unmatched in even the finest of Bruin athletic traditions.
Break out a new banner. Make room in the Pauley rafters. A new collection of heroes is coming home, and they started the party early.
For the first time since 1978, and the first time in the NCAA era, the UCLA women are national basketball champions after a 79-51 finals blowout victory Sunday over favored powerhouse South Carolina.
“Oh my gosh,” said weeping star Lauren Betts after the final buzzer.
Oh my, Lauren. This was a heartfelt triumph for the towering tournament Most Outstanding Player who overcame mental health issues to become the toughest figure on the floor.
“I do it for my teammates,” she said during the celebration. “I don’t do it for me.”
Oh my, Gabby. This was a legendary triumph for Gabriela Jaquez, who scored 21 points with 10 rebounds in the finals while her brother, former Bruin star Jaime Jaquez Jr., watched from the stands one day after he scored 32 points for the Miami Heat.
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez hugs coach Cori Close during the second half of the Bruins’ win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s national championship Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
“I imagined this moment, I imagined it so many times,” she said. “Oh my gosh, I’m so happy.”
Oh my, Kiki Rice, Angela Dugalic, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker, this being a victory for the rarest of teams in college basketball — a group led by six seniors and graduate students who scored more than 90% of the points during the tournament and were openly fueled by a desire to play one more game together.
Oh my, Cori, this being a legacy triumph for Coach Cori Close, a John Wooden disciple who led through thoughtful motivation instead of mindless screaming. This was her 15th season as the Bruins’ boss, which previously made her the longest tenured coach without a national title.
“It’s truly indescribable,” she said from the celebration stage afterward. “The loyalty, the steadfast spirit, the character that they’ve chosen day in and day out. … I am just so humbled that they’ve chosen to commit to our mission.”
One of Close’ mantras is, “Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.”
In Sunday’s finale, it was always all of them, a scrambling, scrapping bunch that stunned the three-time champion Gamecocks into submission in the third biggest blowout in women’s final history.
This was UCLA’s first finals appearance in the NCAA era, and they were trying to win their first title since Anne Meyers-Drysdale led the Bruins to an AIAW championship in 1978.
Yet they never blinked.
“This was a business trip for us,” said Dugalic. “We had the mentality that the job’s not finished. Now the job is finished.”
Jaquez set the tone in the first quarter by following a Dugalic miss with a flying layup as she was sent sprawling to the floor. She was fouled, converted a three-point play, and the Bruins were quickly sending a message.
They would not be intimidated. They would not be pushed around. And they would play every second, as evidenced by the first-quarter, buzzer- beating trey by Rice as she tumbled backward to give them a 21-10 lead.
The Bruins didn’t even panic when their leader seemed to panic, as Betts spent nearly half of the first quarter on the bench complaining that, “I’ve got something stuck in my throat.”
UCLA coach Cori Close, center, celebrates with her players after guiding the Bruins to the NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Trainers checked her throat, gave her an inhaler and eventually nursed her back on to the court, where she told an ESPN interviewer that her throat was just dry from the desert air.
The Bruins kept the heat on during a second quarter in which they made mistakes, seemed to lose momentum, then collected themselves to maintain their huge edge. At one point UCLA committed four consecutive turnovers and the Gamecocks closed the gap to 11, but then UCLA’s defense got tough again and layups by Rice and Kneepkens helped them regain their advantage.
At halftime UCLA led 36-23 and the game was essentially over.
Jaquez put the bow on it when she hit a late three-pointer that made it 79-45, her shot followed by a smile and a scream to the heavens.
Highlights from UCLA’s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.
“Gabs is incredible,” said Leger-Walker. “She is that person that you never doubt is going to give her all. She impacts the game in so many ways.”
Leger-Walker ended the afternoon dancing with her teammates just as they have danced all season.
“I’m still processing the fact that we are national champions,” she said.
Believe it. These Bruins will be dancing forever.
UCLA players celebrate after defeating South Carolina for the NCAA women’s basketball championship.
