March Madness: UCLA women advance to Elite Eight, | College News

SPOKANE, Wash. — When UCLA signed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2022, the program-changing prospects instantly flashed their potential by main the Bruins to the Sweet 16. Opposing coaches have been impressed, telling UCLA coach Cori Close that the freshmen could be so good “one day.”

Internally, Gabriela Jaquez squirmed every time she heard the reward.

“I’m just like, ‘I don’t care, I want to be good now,’” the UCLA junior guard mentioned this week. “Why do we have to wait?”

The wait is over.

UCLA’s as soon as vaunted freshman class has come of age, arriving within the Elite Eight as juniors after main the Bruins to a 76-62 win over No. 5 Mississippi within the Regional 1 semifinal on Friday at Spokane Arena.

In their third consecutive Sweet 16, the Bruins (33-2) lastly pushed ahead to a regional remaining for the primary time since 2018 and can play for the regional crown Sunday towards No. 3 seed Louisiana State at midday PDT (ABC). The Tigers, who knocked off the Bruins within the Sweet 16 final season, took down No. 2 North Carolina State 80-73 on Friday.

Betts, a switch addition to the gifted junior class, was unstoppable with 31 factors on 15-for-16 capturing with 10 rebounds because the Bruins shot a season-best 60% from the sphere.

Junior guard Kiki Rice, who was the No. 2-rated prospect in her high college class behind solely Betts, had 13 factors and 7 assists. After being held scoreless from the sphere within the first half, Rice hit a key three-pointer early within the third quarter that capped an 8-0 run for the Bruins. The Rebels, who trailed by only one at halftime, by no means received the lead down to single digits after junior Londynn Jones hit a three-pointer to put the Bruins up by 12 with 6:07 to go.

Rice, Jones and Jaquez have been the core of UCLA’s second-ever top-ranked recruiting class, however the group has continued to transcend by key switch additions.

None was greater than Betts. The Stanford switch has averaged 30.5 factors and 12 rebounds within the final two video games, lacking solely 4 pictures from the sphere on 33 makes an attempt.

UCLA misplaced ahead Lina Sontag final spring from their authentic high class of recruits, and Christeen Iwuala transferred to Mississippi and scored seven factors with 9 rebounds towards her former staff. But Close introduced in Janiah Barker and Timea Gardiner, the No. 3 and No. 6 prospects, respectively, within the 2022 HoopGurlz recruiting rankings.

Three years after the historic group began, UCLA now has 4 of the highest six gamers within the class and 6 of the highest 22.

“I think it’s just been cool to see the growth, especially me, Londynn and Kiki being freshmen together,” Jaquez mentioned this week. “We were always confident in ourselves and we didn’t want to be good when we were older, we want to be good now, but I think we’ve just grown so much and I think the experience has been a really crucial part of that.”

For two consecutive seasons, the highest prospects have been left licking their wounds from Sweet 16 exits. Last 12 months’s loss because the No. 2 seed to No. 3 LSU particularly haunted them. All offseason, they thought concerning the missed alternative to lead this system’s subsequent step.

Sunday will likely be a take a look at of simply how a lot the previous No. 1 recruiting class has grown. A rematch of final 12 months’s Sweet 16 has now became UCLA’s probability to make its first NCAA Final Four.