Lauren Betts helps No. 3 UCLA pummel Oregon in Big Ten opener
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- No. 4 UCLA dominated the paint through Lauren Betts, who posted season highs of 24 points and 14 rebounds in a win over Oregon.
- The Bruins’ center proved too formidable for Oregon’s defense, controlling both ends with five blocks and consistently finding open teammates.
- UCLA maintained complete control, keeping the Ducks at bay with a lead that never fell below 20 points in the second half.
Anytime UCLA built a significant lead in the first half, Oregon tried to slow the the Bruins’ momentum with a timeout. The first call came after a UCLA built a 10-point advantage in the first quarter, with the second timeout after UCLA pulled ahead by 19 points.
It didn’t work — the Bruins remained in control of the game.
The No. 4 UCLA women’s basketball team (9-1) earned an 80-59 win over Oregon (10-1) during their Big Ten opener at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday.
Center Lauren Betts led Bruins with a season high of 24 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Gianna Kneepkens and Lena Bilic finished with double-digit scoring, adding 17 and 13 points, respectively. After earning Big Ten Player of the Week honors, Gabriela Jaquez finished the game with eight points, four rebounds and two assists.
“I thought the first half was with great spirit, aggression,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “One of our best offensive rebounding halves that we’ve had, 16 assists in the first half, tons of really good things.”
The Bruins started the game with a six-point run put together by Kneepkens, Betts and Jaquez.
When UCLA wasn’t shooting well from beyond the arc, the Bruins kept feeding the ball to Betts in the paint.
Betts played aggressively on both sides of the court, and she was too formidable for Oregon to stop. When the Ducks’ defense tried to collapse on Betts, she passed to an open teammate.
By the third quarter, the Bruins were in complete control. Betts blocked a shot that was converted into a Kneepkens three-pointer that extended UCLA’s lead to 24 points.
The Bruins’ 6-foot-7 center used a powerpoint presentation to help recruit her 6-4 sister to UCLA it was revealed at Big Ten media day.
UCLA finished the game with 22 assists and three players with double-digit scoring.
“Once you really get to know who you’re playing with and how they play, it’s just natural fluency,” Kneepkens said.
Close said she watched film with Betts to highlight some things she wanted her center to implement during games, which led to Betts’ best game of the season.
“Sometimes when you’re in the moment, everything just feels so far away that you can’t really make the fixes,” Betts said. “[Waching film] just makes my job a lot easier.”
UCLA’s intensity took a dip in the second half. The Ducks’ defense kept the Bruins under 20 points during each of the last two periods.
“When we get into comfortable spaces, we just have to grow on not getting tired of doing it right,” Close said. “We get casual, we communicate less, our rebounding numbers were less, our passion plays were less, 17 of our 22 assists happened in the first 20 minutes and 30 seconds.”
Even though the Bruins eased their intensity, Oregon never cut the deficit below 20 points the rest of the game.
“I failed because in the second half, I called an early time out, we talked about exactly what the differences we were seeing and I wasn’t able to turn it,” Close said. “That’s always the goal.”
Gabriela Jaquez’s all-around brilliance powers the No. 3 Bruins to a rout of No. 14 Tennessee at Pauley Pavilion.
With Cal Poly visiting on Tuesday, Close hopes to see her team learn from its mistakes on Sunday and improve.
“This is really an art project and not a scientific formula,” she said. “Just like I expect them to come back to the drawing board on practice ... and go, ‘This is what I’m willing to change,’ I gotta do the same.”
Close stresses good habits against overmatched opponents leads to success when championships are on the line in March and April.
“We’ll get there,” Kneepkens said. “It’s still December.”
