LOS ANGELES — The UCLA women’s basketball team finished the nonconference portion of its schedule much the way it began.
Another lopsided win.
The No. 4 Bruins hosted Long Beach State on Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion and ran away with a 106-44 victory.
UCLA (11-1) began the season with a 77-53 win against visiting San Diego State on Nov. 3 and every victory since has come by 14 points or more, including back-to-back wins over No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 18 North Carolina.
The only hiccup for the Bruins came in a 76-65 loss to No. 2 Texas in a semifinal at the Players Era Championship on Nov. 27 in Las Vegas.
The Bruins were coming off a 115-28 victory against Cal Poly on Tuesday, their largest margin of victory in the NCAA era.
Gabriela Jaquez greeted LBSU by making all four of her 3-point attempts in the first quarter and the remaining members of the Bruins’ rotation began chipping in from there.
Jaquez made 5 of 6 tries from 3-point distance and finished with 17 points, 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts also scored 17, and Kiki Rice had 15 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals for UCLA, which returns to Big Ten Conference play Dec. 28 at No. 22 Ohio State.
Sienna Betts, the younger sister of Lauren Betts and the No. 2 recruit in the nation last year, contributed 14 points and five rebounds off the bench in her second game since missing the first 10 because of a lower left leg injury.
Angela Dugalic added 13 points in a reserve role and Gianna Kneepkens had 10 points and 10 rebounds for UCLA.
Long Beach State (0-10), which has struggled after losing its top five scorers from last season’s 16-14 team, has lost six straight by double figures.
JaQuoia Jones-Brown, who was the top returning scorer for Long Beach State at 7.1 points per game, scored all 10 of her team-high points in the first quarter.
Gabriela Jaquez sank her third 3-pointer in the opening 3.5 minutes without a miss to give the Bruins an early 12-4 lead.
Long Beach State guard Khylee Pepe picked up two fouls in the first 1:08 and Rosie Akot replaced her.
LBSU stayed within single digits until Angela Dugalic made two free throws to extend the lead to 16-5 with 4:18 left in the first quarter.
Jaquez sank her fourth three-point of the opening quarter from the baseline with 2:52 left to stretch the lead to 21-5.
Sienna Betts checked in with 4:18 left in the opening quarter and made a layup and then a pull-up jumper in the key with four seconds left to give the Bruins a 29-11 lead entering the second.
The Bruins called timeout and pushed the reset button after LBSU cut it to 37-18 on a 3-pointer by Morgan Mack with 7:07 left in the first half.
UCLA then scored the next nine points, capped by Rice’s steal and uncontested layup for a 44-18 lead with 3:55 left in the half.
The Bruins eventually took a 57-23 lead into intermission after shooting 68% from the floor and holding LBSU to 35%.
More to come on this story.