Final Four has UCLA’s name on it

(News4usonline) – For the second straight season, the UCLA women’s basketball team advanced to the Final Four. The Bruins got a little closer to their possible title game goal by beating Duke 70-58 in an Elite Eight contest. 

But before UCLA made it through that maze, the Bruins had to get out their own way to take down the Blue Devils. 

Getting out of the way meant doing some internal housecleaning at halftime. The Bruins trailed Duke by eight at intermission and appeared to be a team clearly out of sync with one another. A few clear-the-air moments later, the Bruins went on a 20-8 blitz against the Blue Devils in the third quarter to take command of the game. 

UCLA forward Angela Dugalic, who scored 15 points in the victory, admitted afterward that a good verbal intake and outtake among the Bruins worked out best for the ballclub. 

“Before [head coach] Cori [Close] came in, I think we were just we were able to call each other up and out on like what we have to fix. And I think that’s a great quality of our team…no one takes it personally,” Dugalic said. 

“If I need Lauren to do something better, she’s willing to take accountability for that and vice versa. That goes for everyone on my team. When Cori came in, she was super steady, and I think that gave us a sense of calm,” she added. 

Dugalic and her teammates had good reason to point out what needed to be fixed. First, lose and you go home. The second reason is that the Bruins have been perhaps the most dominant team in women’s college basketball this season, racking up 34 wins against just a single defeat. 

UCLA entered their matchup with Duke as the Big Ten Conference regular season champions, Big Ten Conference Tournament winners and the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento region of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. That didn’t seem to matter to Duke, who ran by and ran through their counterparts during the game’s first 20 minutes. 

Thank goodness there was an intermission. The Bruins needed the break to regroup, especially on the defensive end, Dugalic said. 

“I think for starters, we try to anchor ourselves on defense, and we knew that wasn’t a great depiction of how we want to play on defense. I think we just needed to adjust,” Dugalic remarked. “I even told the guards, I need you to get through the screen, so we can properly help you guys and get back to our player. And then they had some things to say to us as well.”

After celebrating making it to the Final Four last season, the Bruins found themselves being humbled by UConn, losing that game to the Huskies by 34 points. Center Lauren Betts, the main catalyst for UCLA’s torrid run, said the Bruins expected to come back and have another strong season.  

With UCLA players wearing shirts postgame that said “We’re Not Done,” Betts talked about directly on the imaginary pressure of playing well enough to get back to the Final Four a second time. 

I don’t think there’s any pressure,” Betts said. “I think that’s something we talk about a lot in this program is keeping our circle small. We’re not worried about what the media has to say about us, what other people have to say about us, fans. We’re so focused on our progression throughout the season and just trying to get better every single day and every single game.”

The Bruins won this game because they decided to play defense in the second half. They also went about their business to establish control in the painted area. UCLA finished the game with 54 points scored in the paint. 

As a team, the Bruins outscored the Blue Devils 39-19 in the second half. That was your ballgame. UCLA also had a double-digit advantage in rebounding over the Blue Devils (38-26). 

And once Betts got it going, it was lights out for the Blue Devils. Betts scored a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds in the game. And now the Bruins and head coach Cori Close stand one game away from playing in the national championship game. 

Since taking over the UCLA women’s basketball program, Close has taken the Bruins to the NCAA Women’s Tournament 10 times. Winning a title has been something that has eluded Close and the Bruins. Things could be different this time around.

“I think the key factor is once you determine what your outcome, what you desire and your outcome, the factor, what carries you through is to not think about it again,” Close said in her postgame comments. 

“In the summer, we spend time, okay, everybody knows we want to learn from what happened and have a chance to compete for a national championship and to go back to the Final Four. In order to make that happen, what are the standards?” she asked.  

Cover photo provided by Dylan Berkman / News4usonline