LOS ANGELES — The UCLA women’s basketball team rolled to an 84-55 win over California Baptist on Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament without star center Lauren Betts.
UCLA moves on to play No. 7 Creighton, which beat UNLV 87-73, on Monday at Pauley Pavilion in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the Regional 2 in Albany.
The Bruins were playing without Betts, a 6-foot-7 center, who was with the team but wearing street clothing for the game. Betts was seen at practice on Wednesday with her foot/ankle wrapped and elevated but appeared to be walking without difficulty on Saturday.
The Bruins (26-6) more than made up for her absence with four players reaching double-digit scoring totals. Charisma Osborne nearly had a triple-double of 15 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists and Kiki Rice led the team in scoring with 20 points. Gabriela Jaquez added 19 points and Londynn Jones scored 12 points.
“We are really special and we have so many different weapons offensively and defensively,” Osborne told reporters. “Tonight, you guys saw, we didn’t even have Lauren playing tonight. We’re so talented and I know that this team can go really far.”
Angela Dugalić won the opening tip and hit a three for the first points of the game. Jones followed up with a 3-pointer of her own as the Lancers struggled to get settled in their NCAA Tournament debut.
The Bruins took off on an 8-0 scoring run before California Baptist’s Kinsley Barrington went in for a layup. Barrington led the Lancers (28-4) with 16 points and Nae Nae Calhoun contributed 12 points.
California Baptist’s defense spread UCLA out and forced them to make just 4-of-17 shots from beyond the arc in the first half. The efforts of Rice and Osborne kept the Bruins out front with 13 points and nine rebounds, respectively, in the first half.
“I think we fell in love with the three for a period of time,” Close said. “These two steadied the ship and kept hunting for the right shots. Charisma had nine rebounds in the first half and I just think her senior leadership was so huge.”
Dugalić made a 3-pointer with a minute left in the opening quarter and Cam Brown came up with a big block with 37 seconds left to close out the frame with a 17-8 advantage.
CBU used a 9-0 scoring run that lasted nearly three minutes to get within three points of tying the game in the second quarter at 24-21. Charisma Osborne dished the ball to Rice for a 3-pointer and the pair made two free throws apiece to keep UCLA out front.
@haleymsawyer Riverside basketball and the Inland Empire were well-represented in the NCAA Tournament first-round game between UCLA and California Baptist. full story: https://www-dailynews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dailynews.com/2024/03/21/ncaa-tournament-ucla-california-baptist-embrace-the-experience/amp/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3Damp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17113093758958&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailynews.com%2F2024%2F03%2F21%2Fncaa-tournament-ucla-california-baptist-embrace-the-experience%2F #reporter #journalist #sports #collegebasketball #ncaabasketball #ncaatournament #marchmadness #womensbasketball #girlsbasketball #girlpower #basketball #riverside #riversidecaliforina #inlandempire #ucla
California Baptist was making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament on Saturday. Lancer fans packed the stands after three rooter buses had brought in 1,400 CBU faithful.
“It was just one of those moments where it was like, here we are,” coach Jarrod Olson said. “And I’m glad I was able to share it with them because we have come a long way. It’s as good as you can feel losing by 29 points.”
Jaquez knocked down a 3-pointer to start the third quarter as UCLA started strong. The sophomore has stepped up in the postseason, taking on a larger role on and off the court.
“It’s always more important for Gabs to win than to do anything she’s comfortable with,” Close said. “She did a great job pressing them in transition and forcing to flatten out their defense so that we were able to get other things as well as her touches.”
The Lancers’ six-point run gave them some momentum, but couldn’t get them close to tying the game.
Londynn Jones was helped off the court and was in visible lower-body pain with 1:21 left in the quarter, but returned to the court after getting looked at by trainers during at timeout.
UCLA pushed the tempo in the final minutes of the game and even made some unconventional plays at times. Osborne appeared to release the ball for a shot, then batted the ball volleyball-style to Dugalić for a 3-pointer with 7:45 remaining on the clock.
The Lancers battled to the end and maintained their gritty, transition style of play. Barrington and Calhoun both sank threes before time expired to close out California Baptist’s inaugural tournament appearance.
“We showed people CBU basketball and that we can play power five, non-power five,” Calhoun said. “We’ve been doing this the entire year and I think we showed great resiliency. We played hard like it was 0-0 until the buzzer went off.”
