No. 1 UCLA womens basketball barely beats No. 22 | College News
Londynn Jones made a pull-up jumper.
Kiki Rice acquired a steal.
Janiah Barker scored a robust putback layup.
Rice hit free throws.
And then, Timea Gardiner hit the largest three of the season for the Bruins with 44 seconds to go.
Top-ranked UCLA has confirmed to be one of the deepest groups within the nation, they usually confirmed it again Sunday night time, overcoming the absence of their main scorer to defeat No. 22 Michigan State 75-69 in a March Madness-like thriller.
Bruins coach Cori Close let loose a huge sigh at first of her postgame information convention.
“I aged a few years in that game,” she joked. “I am really proud of the confidence, and the grit and the toughness that we earned. We’ve been talking a lot about not relying on your talent or making it look pretty, but doing whatever it takes to find a way to win.”
UCLA star middle Lauren Betts didn’t play as a result of of a foot harm. She wore an air solid during pregame warmups and is taken into account day-to-day, the crew introduced.
Making up for Betts’ absence required a collective effort, and Barker did her half. One of her best performs got here with simply over a minute left earlier than halftime when she stole the ball from Michigan State’s Nyla Hampton and scored on an straightforward layup to put the Bruins forward 41-28 with simply over a minute earlier than halftime.
“We’re a super deep team as well, and so I think we did a phenomenal job,” Gardiner mentioned. (*22*)
Barker completed with 18 factors, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Gardiner additionally had 18 factors for the Bruins to associate with 4 rebounds. Rice’s 16 factors and 7 assists had been additionally essential.
But UCLA (24-1 total, 12-1 Big Ten) missed Betts’ defensive presence, the Spartans scoring 40 factors within the paint.
“The biggest thing that hurt us not having Lauren tonight was how we would play defensively,” Close mentioned. “And it took us a long time to figure out how we could adjust with her not being there as a rim protector. … When I got the text that Lauren wasn’t going to be able to go, I started thinking about how they had already earned this. They beat a top-25 team in Creighton, and they did it without Lauren. They know how to do this. We got plenty to do it. It’s time for next woman up.”
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1. UCLA’s Londynn Jones tries to drive previous Michigan State’s Theryn Hallock within the second half. 2. UCLA’s Londynn Jones, left, tries to strip the ball away from Michigan State’s Jaddan Simmons. 3. UCLA’s Kiki Rice (1) smiles with teammates within the last minute of the Bruins’ win Sunday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Michigan State (19-6, 9-5) was the more bodily crew early within the second half with an aggressive press, forcing 5 UCLA turnovers within the first 5 minutes.
Theryn Hallock and Julia Ayrault led the way in which for Michigan State as they erased UCLA’s eight-point halftime lead. The Spartans took their first lead late within the third quarter off a Jocelyn Tate layup and held a 55-53 lead going into the fourth.
Michigan State prolonged its lead with two free throws on the primary possession and led for many of the fourth till Gardiner’s important three-pointer put the Bruins forward by two.
Rice prolonged the result in 4 after hitting two free throws following a Michigan State crew technical foul. She hit one other two free throws with 13 seconds left to secure an important win for UCLA following their first loss of the season Thursday to rival USC.
“I think [the win] meant a lot to us,” Rice mentioned. “We didn’t want to let one loss derail our season because we know the kind of team we are, but it was really great to just have so many different people step up tonight. I think it brings everyone confidence, and it really just puts us in a good mindset going into the next few games, which will be tough.”
As time expired, Barker grabbed a missed layup by Grace VanSlooten and waved to the raucous Pauley Pavilion crowd.
With March looming, Close is aware of the Bruins are in place to get a high NCAA match seed, however she needs to see more from her crew over the ultimate stretch of the common season.
“I think we can play grittier,” Close mentioned. “I’m proud of how we did it [tonight], but I even think there’s more in us. I think there’s more. We still let the game happen to us in too many possessions, and I just started to think about how good we are now, but if we could, every practice, fight for a few more inches, if we could fight for more consistent rebounding, if we could fight for more talk out there and more connectivity, who knows?”
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