SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Lauren Betts had 17 factors and 7 rebounds regardless of spending the whole second quarter on the bench, and prime total seed UCLA reached its first Closing 4 of the ladies’s NCAA Match with a 72-65 victory over LSU on Sunday.

The 6-foot-7 Betts added six blocks for the Bruins (34-2), who will face the winner of Monday’s recreation between Southern California and UConn. The Closing 4 is Friday evening in Tampa, Florida.

Gabriela Jaquez had 18 factors and eight rebounds for the Bruins and Timea Gardiner completed with 15 factors, serving to to select up the slack went Betts went to the bench after committing two first-quarter fouls.

“Credit score to my teammates for holding it down whereas I used to be out,” Betts stated through the trophy ceremony.

UCLA received a nationwide title in 1978 within the pre-NCAA period of girls’s basketball, however this was its first NCAA regional ultimate victory in three tries.

LSU senior ahead Aneesah Morrow’s nostril was bloodied in a collision with teammate Sa’Myah Smith, however she checked again into her ultimate recreation for the Tigers with none facial safety and completed with 15 factors.

Flau’Jae Johnson scored 28 factors to guide third-seeded LSU (31-6), which received the nationwide title two years in the past below coach Kim Mulkey however has now been eradicated within the final two Elite Eights.

The Tigers closed inside 46-41 to start out the fourth quarter. Betts’ layup prolonged the Bruins’ result in 56-45 with 6:54 to go.

Johnson’s layup bought the Tigers inside 56-52 with 3:24 left, spurring an “LSU! LSU!” chant from the group. However the Tigers couldn’t get nearer, and Jaquez made a 3-pointer with 1:30 left that each one however sealed the Bruins’ win over the crew that eradicated them from final 12 months’s Candy 16.

“We speak about if Lauren kicks it out, you have to be a prepared shooter,” stated Jaquez, whose older brother Jaime Jaquez Jr. performs for the Miami Warmth after starring at UCLA. “I’ve simply bought to remain prepared always. And I knew that was the proper shot I wanted to take and I’ve confidence in myself when capturing. I put within the work.”

Betts — a matchup nightmare for any crew together with her towering stature and ability within the publish — was coming off a 31-point, 10-rebound efficiency within the Candy 16 and a 30-point, 14-rebound effort within the second spherical. She’s certainly one of simply three gamers to have a number of video games with not less than 30 factors and 10 boards within the event within the final 25 seasons.

“Betts didn’t beat us,” Mulkey stated. “We guarded her as powerful as we might. We didn’t benefit from her being off the ground within the second quarter, and we allowed perimeter 3s and different folks to step up.”

The Bruins jumped out early, however the Tigers had an 13-9 edge going into the second quarter. The Bruins went on a 6-0 run, capped by Gardiner’s 3-pointer, to take a 23-17 lead.

The Bruins held their very own with out Betts, heading into halftime up 31-25. Gardiner had 9 factors within the opening half.

“I’ve full confidence in them,” Betts stated of her teammates. “Clearly I am extra mad at myself that I had two fouls. However that is what we’re speaking about after we say we now have a deep crew. I haven’t got to be within the recreation always. I’ve a crew filled with gamers which can be simply superb and proficient in their very own proper, and put within the work.”

Betts began the second half, extending the Bruins’ lead with a layup. Londynn Jones made it 36-25 with a 3-pointer.

UCLA pushed its lead 14 factors earlier than an 8-1 LSU run that closed the hole to 44-37. At one level, UCLA coach Cori Shut yelled at her crew, “Execute!”

Morrow was harm with 1:22 left within the third quarter. She was helped off the courtroom with a towel to her face and went to the locker room, however returned to start out the fourth. ESPN reported through the recreation that Morrow’s nostril was damaged, however she stated afterward that it wasn’t.

Huge open

Mulkey identified that LSU outrebounded UCLA 43-38, however the Bruins went to the road 20 instances versus the Tigers’ 10. But it surely was capturing that in the end doomed the Tigers.

“Must return and have a look at the photographs we missed. Simply wide-open photographs,” Mulkey stated, shaking her head.

Properly, really …

Shut was fast to level out UCLA’s earlier nationwide semifinal appearances in 1978 and ’79, when girls’s basketball was ruled by the Affiliation for Intercollegiate Athletics for Ladies. Denise Curry and Debbie Haliday, who performed on the title-winning crew, had been in attendance.

“We had a number of the alumni right here from that crew,” Shut stated. “We had so many different alums, so I simply wished to offer them their flowers.”

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