UCLA survived a late Texas surge to make its first NCAA title game

PHOENIX — There will be no offensive display between UCLA and Texas on Friday night, a game that ended as one of the lowest scores in women’s Final Four history. The Bruins have done enough to give themselves a chance to win their first championship of the NCAA Tournament era.

Behind Lauren Bates and a defensive performance that stifled Madison Booker and the Longhorns, UCLA held off Texas late and avenged its only loss of the season 51-44 in the semifinals, setting up a title showdown against South Carolina on Sunday afternoon.

“All you can ask for is a chance to play your best basketball in a national championship,” UCLA coach Corey Close said.

UCLA, which has won 30 straight games since losing to Texas on Nov. 26, reached the title game for the first time in program history, despite the Bruins winning the AIAW Large College Championship in 1978. Ann Myers Drysdale and several other players on the 1978 team were in attendance at the game, and Close made sure to acknowledge her and the precedent set by that group.

For the Bruins, it looked like redemption, not only because they fell to Texas 76-65 in November but also because their Final Four appearance last year as the No. 1 overall seed ended in an 85-51 loss to UConn. Close told reporters in the lead-up to Friday’s game that she had done a “bad job as a leader.” The players pledged to perform better.

“Last year, we took that loss very hard,” Bates said. “I think it made us think a lot about what we could have done better, not just on a practical level but as a team, leadership, and being able to have tough conversations. I’m really proud of the growth and the way we’ve maintained such a consistently high level this year.”

The Bruins took the lead, but there was nothing pretty about Friday’s victory. UCLA, which averages 85.1 points per game, has had its fair share of problems scoring against Texas’ stifling defense. UCLA had 23 turnovers, the most in a Final Four game since 2008, when Stanford had 24 turnovers against Tennessee.

But Texas had worse, scoring 44 points and a season-low 30.8% shooting from the field, looking nothing like a team that had reeled off 12 straight wins after a loss to Vanderbilt in February as coach Vic Schaefer questioned his team’s toughness. Booker, who averaged 18.9 points per game this season, scored a season-low six points on 3-of-23 shooting.

“We couldn’t get anything going tonight, and that’s been my fear the last three days,” Schaefer said. “And this is not the place to hand out our laundry, but we’ve had more than one occasion where we could have had a play called… and we weren’t in the right place, and people were out of place. Sometimes these things happen on this stage, and it’s not anyone’s fault.”

Added Schaefer: “I have no idea why the good Lord would pick us tonight to not be able to make a shot. I think we feel like we were in our locker room, and we let someone get away. I think that will haunt me as a coach probably until the day I die.”

Close said she knew this game would go down to defence, but she never expected things to go this way, and apologized to the fans “for the rugby game and 23 turnovers”. But she told her team after beating Iowa 96-45 in the Big Ten title game, “You can’t fall in love with a beautiful offense and think it’s going to be like that every game.”

“I told them there was going to be an NCAA tournament game and you were going to have to go out there and do it with your defense,” Close said. “This was the game we needed. But the truth is, it’s all about toughness at this point and finding a way to get the win, even if it’s a win you wouldn’t have expected or chosen.”

Texas couldn’t get an open shot for long periods, and Booker struggled. After making her first shot of the game, she gave up 17 straight goals, the longest drought of any player in Final Four history. That was a stark contrast to the Longhorns’ win over the Bruins in November, when Booker scored 16 points and Rory Harmon scored 26.

In that game, Bates scored only eight points. She was determined to change that in Friday’s rematch, and in a game where the points were high, she did enough to assert herself in the paint to be a difference-maker. Bates led UCLA with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Due to the scoring problems of both teams, the game remained tense during the first three quarters. UCLA led 31-28 heading into the fourth, but a 7-0 run broke the game open, thanks to a 3-pointer by Kiki Rice at the 9:04 mark and a layup by Gabriella Jaquez to give the Bruins a double-digit lead.

UCLA led by 13 points with 4:36 to play, but Texas cut that lead to 47-44 with 55.8 seconds remaining, as its defensive intensity forced UCLA to turn the ball over and miss shots. After a missed jumper by Angela Dugalic with 30 seconds left, Booker went for a layup, but Bates blocked the shot with 20 seconds left. Rice made two free throws with 13.3 seconds left to seal the win.

“The whole game, the coaches keep telling me to run back, run back, run back,” Betts said. “As soon as I saw (Booker) going down, I said, ‘OK, please block this, just don’t let her score.’”

UCLA set the tone defensively early in the game, contesting nearly every shot and holding Texas to six points in the first quarter — tied for the second-fewest points in a quarter in a Final Four since quarters were introduced in 2016. But in the second quarter, the Bruins scored just six points themselves.

It all led to it becoming only the third game in Final Four history in which the teams combined for fewer than 100 points.

But what does that matter when you stand on the brink of school history?

“This is what we all came here to do,” Jaquez said. “I’m very proud of us for the opportunity to have another opportunity to play in a national championship.”

ESPN’s Michael Voebel contributed to this report.