LOS ANGELES — The fourth quarter made all the difference for the UCLA women’s basketball team on Monday night.
Kiki Rice scored 24 points, Lauren Betts had 20 points and 10 rebounds and second-seeded UCLA rallied in the second half for a 67-63 victory over seventh-seeded Creighton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins (27-6) trailed by 10 points in the third quarter but outscored the Bluejays 33-21 in the second half to secure the win. UCLA will face third-seeded defending national champion LSU in a regional semifinal on Saturday afternoon in Albany, New York. Top-seeded Iowa and fifth-seeded Colorado are in the other semi.
This is the second consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 for the Bruins after they reached that round a year ago before losing to South Carolina.
Betts, the Bruins’ 6-foot-7 sophomore center, returned to the court after missing the Bruins’ first-round victory over California Baptist with an undisclosed injury.
Rice scored 17 of her 24 points after halftime and Gabriela Jaquez added eight points to go with 11 rebounds for UCLA.
Creighton (26-6) led 44-34 early in the second half before UCLA fought back. The Bruins got back into the game with a 20-7 run that included 11 points by Rice.
The game was tied at 56-all after three quarters but UCLA turned up the defensive intensity and held Creighton scoreless for more than four minutes to begin the fourth quarter while putting together a 7-0 run to surge to a 63-56 advantage on a reverse layup by Rice.
The Bruins’ seven-point lead was shaved to two in the final minutes, but Charisma Osborne drove into the lane for a floater that put the Bruins ahead 67-63 with 1:27 left. The teams then traded empty possessions before UCLA’s Angela Dugalic blocked a Creighton layup and the Bruins forced a jump ball with 3.6 seconds left that gave them possession.
The experience of Creighton’s five senior starters allowed the Bluejays to play in transition and get out front early. UCLA didn’t take its first lead of the game until Rice sank two free throws and a 3-pointer after that with 4:05 left in the first quarter.
The Bruins led 11-10, but only briefly, and scored most of their points on lay-ins and putbacks by Betts. She scored 12 points in the first quarter.
UCLA struggled with Creighton’s off ball screens and transition game during the first half. Creighton went on an 8-0 scoring run sparked by Morgan Maly to start the second quarter, which forced UCLA to call a timeout. Rice scored on a layup coming out of the break and Osborne hit a corner 3-pointer, but the Bluejays continued to shoot with no hesitation to maintain their advantage.
Creighton, which came into the game as the No. 12 team in the nation in terms of 3-pointers per game, shot 7 for 16 shots from behind the arc against the Bruins.
Jaquez showed her gritty side when she hit two shots in a row with under two minutes until halftime to cut the deficit to eight points. Creighton stayed the course to head into the break with a 42-24 advantage.
UCLA locked in on defense in the third quarter and made shots fall for themselves. Brown jumped up for a block to force a turnover and Jaquez went in for a layup as the Bruins scored six straight points.
The Bruins forced Maly to miss a 3-point attempt, then Rice tossed a pass to Betts for a layup and a 50-50 tie. UCLA forced Creighton to miss more shots while rebounding and maintaining possession for as long as possible.
Rice continued her takeover and dribbled through the paint for a layup and made two free throws after to bring the score to 54-51. Lauren Jensen hit a 3-pointer for Creighton to tie the score heading into the final quarter.
Creighton, once fearless, was tentative in the waning minutes of the game. The Bluejays shot 13 for 22 from the field in the first half but only 9 for 28 in the third and fourth quarters.
Jensen finished with 20 points and Maly had 18 for Creighton. Emma Ronsiek added 14 points.
It was the last time playing in Pauley Pavilion for graduate students Osborne and Camryn Brown, a moment especially significant for Osborne, who decided to return to UCLA for a fifth year.
She currently ranks No. 2 in program history in career points. The top-scoring Bruin with 3,198 points is Denise Curry, who was in attendance for the game.