Betts

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Lauren Betts had 16 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and three blocks to help No. 2 UCLA hold off No. 8 Michigan for a 69-66 win on Sunday.

The Wolverines trailed by 11 points with less than two minutes left and ended the game with a chance to tie the score, Syla Swords shot an airball on a three-pointer with 2.2 seconds left.

UCLA (23-1, 13-0 Big Ten) took a two-game lead over Michigan (20-4, 11-2) in the conference with its 17th straight victory since losing to No. 4 Texas in November.

The Bruins outscored Michigan by 14 over the second and third quarters and finished with their NCAA-best ninth win over an AP Top 25 team.

The Wolverines’ school-record nine-game winning streak in Big Ten games was snapped by a big and experienced team that plays stifling defense and is led by a 6-foot-7 preseason All-America center who does it all.

UCLA players wear pink basketball shoes to support Breast Cancer Awareness on Sunday.

(Lon Horwedel / Associated Press)

Betts was eight of 17 from the field, grabbed rebounds at both ends of the court, set up teammates for shots after drawing double teams and used her size to block or alter shots.

Her surrounding cast is talented, too.

UCLA’s Kiki Rice scored 20, Gabriela Jaquez had 13 and Gianna Kneepkens scored 12.

Michigan’s Olivia Olson had 20 points, Mila Holloway had 15 and Te’Yala Delfosse added 10. Swords was limited to eight points, missing 10 of 13 shots.

The highly anticipated matchup drew a season-high 6,108 crowd to Crisler Center a few hours before the Super Bowl.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Lauren Betts overcame early foul trouble to score 23 points and pull down nine rebounds, leading No. 2 UCLA to an 80-67 win Wednesday night over Illinois.

Betts, the Bruins’ 6-foot-7 AP All-American center, picked up her second and third fouls — the latter on a technical foul — with 1:29 left in the first quarter.

She sat out the rest of the first quarter and the second quarter, returned to the court after halftime, and ended up playing nearly 24 minutes. She had just six points at halftime.

Angela Dugalic scored 12 points for UCLA (20-1, 10-0 Big Ten), which won its 14th straight. Gabriela Jaquez had 11, and Kiki Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Sienna Betts — Lauren’s sister — each added 10.

Cearah Parchment had a career-high 26 points and seven rebounds for Illinois (15-6, 5-5) before fouling out with 36 seconds left. She was 10 of 13 from the field.

Destiny Jackson had 15 points and six assists, Maddie Webber scored 12 points and Berry Wallace had 11 for the Illini.

Illinois, which played without injured Gretchen Dolan, has lost five of seven after an 11-game winning streak.

UCLA led 45-31 at halftime. Illinois cut the lead to five points twice in the third quarter, but didn’t get any closer.

The Bruins won despite making just one three-pointer, going one of 10 from distance. They had 48 points in the paint to Illinois’ 24 and also doubled the Illini in bench points, 24-12.

UCLA hasn’t lost since it fell 76-65 to No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas.

In the 10 games before facing Illinois, the Bruins beat their opponents by an average of nearly 40 points and scored an average of more than 91 points a game.