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Continuing the mercurial play that has defined their postseason, top-seeded UCLA opened their NCAA Tournament journey Friday with an 84-46 rout of Southern.
Lauren Betts lead a balanced effort that saw six in double figures, with 14 points. Janiah Barker added 10 points and 10 rebounds. All but two on the roster scored at least 9 points.
Point guard Kiki Rice, who had 10 points and 7 assists, said that the team has united, with Championship aspirations in mind.
“I think that’s one of the most special things about this team. We have so many players that could be on many other top 25 teams across the country and be the go-to player,” she said. “Our collective willingness to put all that aside and to be on a great team and just be selfless is something that’s very special, because it’s not easy.”
“But having that long-term view of the game…..that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Bruins, ranked No. 1 for 12 weeks of the regular season, stumbled in the closing weeks with two straight losses to crosstown rival USC. Plagued by slow starts and lackadaisical efforts at times, the team called a meeting among themselves to right the ship. Since then they beat the Trojans in the Big Ten Championship game, and have looked more formidable with each outing.
Coach Cori Close said she is trying to do her part, as well.
“I was fired up tonight,” she said. “I thought I needed to coach them hard to hold the standard. I understood the expectations. I want my intensity to lead the way of what was important.”
“We’ve been talking a lot about we have a lot of talent, but that is not going to determine our ceiling. What determines our ceiling is our character, our choices, discipline, grittiness.”
UCLA takes on Richmond in the second round, who upset Georgia Tech prior to the Bruin-Jaguar game, 74-49.
The Spiders’ rout of the Yellow Jackets, who were ranked for most of the season, came after they received an at-large Tournament bid, after losing the Atlantic-10 conference tournament by one point. But perhaps no one was more surprised than coach Aaron Roussell, who said he was taken aback by the team’s steadiness coming into the matchup.
“I could not believe how calm we all were,” he said. The preparation our staff put into this was incredible. It was enjoyable this week working with our staff putting this together, really enjoyable with our kids, engaged, asking questions, really wanted to be a part of this.”
“Sometimes they gave me a look, are we sure we’re doing this right? You know you kind of rolling with it until you need to adjust, but they were really locked in. They all really wanted this.”
Maggie Doogan lead the way for Richmond with 30 points and 14 rebounds.
The Bruins-Spiders game tips off at 7 p.m. Sunday.
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