PHOENIX — Cori Close stood at the top of the ladder in her signature black leather cargo pants, gold-hued scissors in hand. Two snips, and she was swinging the basketball net around her head.
Fifteen years earlier, she was writing letters to UCLA men’s and women’s basketball alumni asking for advice in her first year as the Bruins’ women’s basketball coach. Those letters built her vision for the program and, on Friday night, it all culminated in the Bruins’ first-ever NCAA national championship.
“Character never goes out of style,” Close told reporters. “And I think that all of us — in life, sports, whatever — as we grow in our character, we grow in our consistency, good things happen. I just think it’s all it now. We are believing in it in its entirety.”
Top-seeded UCLA started strong and never looked back to beat fellow top seed South Carolina 79-51 on Easter Sunday in front of a sellout crowd of 15,856 at Mortgage Matchup Center, knocking off a perennial power to claim the West Coast’s first NCAA title since Stanford won it in 2021.
The win also extends UCLA’s program-best win streak to 31 and is the second national title that the program has won. The Bruins had previously won a championship when women’s basketball was housed under the AIAW.
Jaquez, who was one of six seniors on the court, had a crowning performance in her final game as a Bruin with a game-high 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
“Our mentality coming out, we all just decided,” Jaquez said. “I think that’s what made us so powerful this whole season. When we decided we wanted to do something, we did it.”
Gianna Kneepkens added 15 points, and All-American center Lauren Betts had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.
South Carolina’s Tessa Johnson scored 14 points and All-American forward Joyce Edwards had eight points and 11 rebounds.
UCLA (37-1, 16-0 Big Ten) won the battle on the boards and out-rebounded South Carolina (36-4, 15-1 Southeastern Conference), 49-37.
Armed with the mental toughness gained from their mind gym, the Bruins held South Carolina to its lowest first-quarter shooting percentage of the tournament. The Gamecocks only made 3 of their 18 shots from the floor.
Jaquez put on a clinic that exceeded the stat sheet and included countless hustle plays that earned plenty of scoring opportunities, like when she raced in for a tip-in on Angela Dugalić’s missed layup. Jaquez drew a foul and made the ensuing shot to give the Bruins a 9-4 lead.
UCLA then rattled off seven unanswered points until Tessa Johnson made a layup to bring the score to 13-7. The Bruins shook off the moment and resumed their scoring, even when Betts left the court in a brief injury scare.
It appeared as though something was stuck in Betts’ throat, and she went into a coughing fit on the bench, where she remained for the last 2:14 of the opening quarter. She stayed with sports medicine staff members on the bench for the first 2:20 of the second quarter.
“I’m fine. I mean, like, now I am. I feel fine,” Betts said with a laugh. “Yeah, no, it’s just dry out here. I don’t know.”
The offense stayed smooth when she returned, and Betts resumed her matchup in the paint with Okot. Dugalić fed Jaquez the ball for a layup with 8:22 remaining until halftime, and Kneepkens banked a jump shot on the Bruins’ next possession to bring the score to 30-15 in her team’s favor.
South Carolina switched to a full-court press for the final three minutes, but still trailed 36-23 at the midway point of the game. UCLA was also out-rebounding the opposition, 29-19.
“I feel like our energy was just really good,” Betts said. “As soon as we came out, the first couple minutes, everyone was just locking in on what they needed to do, winning their one-on-one matches. Rebounds were crucial. I could tell from the very beginning.”
The Gamecocks have thrived in the second half throughout the NCAA Tournament and have outscored opponents by nearly 14 points after halftime. Overall, this season, the Gamecocks have been winning games by 29.2 points.
UCLA rewrote that script on Sunday.
The Bruins opened the third quarter on a 25-5 scoring run and only allowed the Gamecocks to score nine points in the frame. Leger-Walker was beaming as she walked to a timeout near the five-minute mark.
They were in arm’s reach of taking down South Carolina, which had been on this stage four times in the last five years and was going for its fourth national title under head coach Dawn Staley.
“I’m pretty sure people had us (picked to lose),” Betts said. “You know what? I don’t even care. We just won a championship, so you know what? I don’t really have much to say about that.”
Their paint presence forced South Carolina to take poor shots, and players came up with rebounds and blocks in key moments. Leger-Walker jumped up to block Makeer’s breakaway layup attempt to preserve another UCLA scoring run, which extended to 11 unanswered points.
Kneepkens’ corner three gave the Bruins a 32-point lead with 5:50 left in the game, and also marked her third made 3-pointer of the game. Jaquez swished the deepest 3 of the game with 2:42 left to give UCLA a 79-46 advantage.
They were easily able to hold South Carolina off for the remainder of the evening and outscored the Gamecocks 43-28 in the second half.
Blue, yellow and white confetti blasted from cannons and floated to the floor, setting the stage for Jaquez, Betts and Leger-Walker to unleash the dance routine that they had learned and performed with the UCLA dance team one last time.
“Right from the beginning, right when we all got on campus, we knew that this group was going to be special,” senior guard Kiki Rice said. “You could just feel the energy. We’ve been a part of a lot of basketball teams. I think you know when you have that competitive DNA in you.”