UCLA overpowers Cal Baptist

Los Angeles, CA (News4usonline) – For 20 minutes, Cal Baptist gave UCLA a run for its money. For the first 20 minutes of their first round NCAA Women’s Tournament game, the Lancers threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Bruins and center Lauren Betts. 

It wasn’t enough. The Lancers, though, looked impressive in the first two quarters of action against the Bruins. 

“We take a lot of pride at CBU saying we’re going to go out there and play ball. We had shirts this year that say “We Hoop at CBU,” and I thought we did that the first half. It was pretty cool,” Cal Baptist head coach Jarrod Olson said.  

The UCLA-Cal Baptist matchup was a mismatch on paper. It turned out to be a reality check for the Lancers. UCLA was too big, too strong, too tall, and too good.

“Our first half was pretty good,” Cal Baptist guard Filpa Barros said. “We were like very close to them. But of course there’s a reason for them to be No. 1 seed and us being No. 16 seed So, yeah, I’m still proud of all of my teammates. I think we did a great job.”

When UCLA played against the 16th-seeded Lancers, it was supposed to be an easy pathway for the mighty Bruins to ease on to their second-round matchup. In the end, it turned that way with the Bruins securing a 96-43 win at Pauley Pavilion.  

“I want to compliment Cal Baptist,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said afterward. “Their sustained excellence and how they play to their identity, have sort of a relentless hustle about them, knowing who they are, just want to give them credit.” 

The game started competitively enough. Soon after, though, Betts got it going early and could not be stopped. For Betts, it was a layup drill kind of night. Betts made 9 of 15 shots from the field to finish the game with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

“You know, we are one of the longest teams, tallest teams in the country,” Close remarked. “And you know, those are the hardest matchups.” 

Cal Baptist does not have any player of the caliber of Betts. To beat the Bruins, you can’t shoot a whole bunch of jump shots. 

To their undoing, the Lancers thought they could. With Betts monitoring the paint and slapping away potential buckets, Cal Baptist had only one real option, and that was to fire it from long distance. 

The Lancers connected on some of their three-point shot attempts, but missed a whole bunch more, connecting on just six of their 30 attempts from behind the arc.  

For the opening minutes of the first quarter, that reality didn’t matter to the Cal Baptist players. The Lancers scrapped, fought and battled the Bruins as best they could in the first period. 

They even made things competitive during the opening 10 minutes of the ballgame. And yet, Betts and the Bruins still managed to build a lead that suggested that the bigger the bark the bigger the bite. 

For all intents and purposes, the Lancers didn’t have anyone to match up against the bigger and stronger Betts. From the beginning of the game when the Bruins dumped the ball into Betts on their first possession of the game, the fans that bought tickets to Pauley Pavilion to watch the contest already knew what time it was. 

Just give the ball to Betts and get the heck out of the way. Lacking in size, there was only so much the Lancers could do. Even with a portion of the crowd loudly cheering them on, Cal Baptist was outnumbered and outgunned by a bigger, stronger and deeper UCLA squad. 

While Cal Baptist was competing against the likes of Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara in the Western Athletic Conference, the Bruins were moving into dominance in the Big Ten Conference. However, that didn’t stop the Lancers from coming after the Bruins. And they came strong. 

Cal Baptist played the first half against the Bruins like they had a chip on their shoulders. Who would blame them? This was supposed to be a throwaway game for the Bruins. 

The Lancers made it anything else but that by showing tough skin and a whole lot of tenacity and not backing down an inch to the more revered Bruins. Cal Baptist still found themselves down 10 points by halftime. 

The Lancers fought a good fight, but were no match for one of the better college basketball programs in the nation. The Bruins showed as much when they came out and scored 11 unanswered points to kick start the third quarter. 

The 11-0 run by the Bruins before a time out was called by the Lancers, upped the Bruins’ lead 55-34 with 7:43 left on the clock. If Cal Baptist were supposed to be this year’s Cinderella team, the glass slipper came out from under them by the UCLA scoring blitz. 

Los Angeles, CA – UCLA guard Kiki Rice in action against Cal Baptist. Rice and the Bruins defeated the Lancers 96-43 in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament at Pauley Pavilion on March 21, 2026. Photo credit: Jacob Teng / News4usonline