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UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated

Sunday marked Senior Night for the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team’s seniors who stole the show.

Gabriela Jaquez scored 14 points, Kiki Rice had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts had 15 rebounds as UCLA wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.

Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.

It was the Bruins’ 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 16 times.

Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.

Charlisse Leger-Walker finished with a game-high 20 points for the Bruins while Gianna Kneepkens added 14 points and five assists.

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA (28-1, 18-0) held USC to 27% shooting in the teams’ first meeting — a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts’ 18 points. It was USC’s most lopsided loss under coach Lindsay Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC (17-12, 9-9) shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.

UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.

USC opened the second half on an 11-2 run.

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Tommy Fury set to take on another triathlon after being accused of ‘lying’ when he posed at finish line with Molly-Mae

TOMMY Fury is set to take on a second triathlon after facing a 100km World Championship race last August.

The boxer, 26, took on the race in the French Riviera but came under fire after it was revealed he didn’t actually complete the full course.

Tommy Fury is set to take on another triathlon after being accused of ‘lying’ following his first attemptCredit: Getty
Molly-Mae greeted her partner at the finish line of his French Riviera feat last yearCredit: TIKTOK / t100triathlon
Tommy’s brother-in-law Danny Rae says they are training together to take on a triathlon

Now, his brother-in-law Danny Rae says Tommy is set to take on another three-fold endurance race.

“Tommy’s triathlon – he’s gonna do another one I believe,” athlete Danny told The Sun, who is married to Molly-Mae Hague’s sister Zoe.

Speaking at a pop-up event by drinks brand Celsius, Danny continued: “So, yeah, he just likes to be busy. He loves training.”

Tommy took on his first triathlon in August, but faced controversy after a marathon Investigation found that he did not actually finish the event, pointing to his bike splits, which showed he was not logged beyond the 48km point.

MOLLY’S STRUGGLE

Molly-Mae Hague reveals pregnancy symptom & says she could collapse


MOL’S OUT

Molly-Mae Hague flashes her bra in see-through top on night out without Tommy

A search for his official time on the Sportstats website will reveal a large DID NOT FINISH next to his name.

But, it made him one of 93 athletes not to have completed the route – and there was a valid reason why they didn’t have a chance to go the distance.

Due to road closures and traffic, the group of athletes were told by organisers that they could not finish the route.

With Tommy set to go again, it seems that the whole family could be getting involved, said Danny.

The sportsman, who married Zoe Rae in 2024 and is a Hyrox world champion, continued: “I’m going to do a triathlon.

“So, the Hyrox season ends in June and then I’m just gonna sort of dabble in triathlons.”

Revealing that he and Tommy have been preparing together, Danny added: “We train together quite a lot.

“He obviously is a professional boxer who’s in camp quite a lot, and he’s, again, he’s very regimented with his training.

“But where we can share sessions, if it aligns with both of our individual training programs, we’ll do that. 

“So we trained together last night, we had a nice easy 90 minute 90 minutes of aerobic work.”

Danny spoke at a Celsius event, with the sportsman a partner of the energy drinks brand
Danny is married to Molly-Mae’s sister Zoe Rae, and has a close bond with the familyCredit: Instagram / zoerae

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Lakers hold off Clippers rally, earn win despite sloppy finish

For just the 11th time in 55 games this season, the Lakers had Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves sharing the court together.

They are the core of the Lakers, the engines that make this team go, but health issues have prevented them from playing together for far too much of the 2025-26 campaign.

During their first game since the NBA All-Star break, Doncic, Reaves and James carried the the Lakers to a 125-122 win over the Clippers Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Doncic had 38 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves celebrates after Clippers guard Bennedict Mathurin was called for an offensive foul.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves celebrates after Clippers guard Bennedict Mathurin (9) was called for an offensive foul Friday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Reaves had 29 points, six assists and made a big defensive play late in the game.

And James had 13 points and 11 assists, his fifth straight game with 10 or more assists.

Up 118-115 with 1:49 left, Reaves took drew a charge on Bennedict Mathurin, the Clipper’s sixth foul that sent him to the bench with 26 points.

Still, the Lakers didn’t escape until Doncic made two free throws with 21.2 seconds left to give the Lakers a five-point lead that barely stood.

With a 125-122 lead and the ball, James threw a dangerous cross-court pass intended for Doncic that Nicolas Batum instead stole.

But Batum missed a potential game-tying three-pointer and James got the rebound to secure the win.

The Lakers put two defenders on Kawhi Leonard, double teaming the Clippers’ best offensive weapon, keeping a crowd of defenders around him, especially when they employed their zone defense.

Leonard was giving it to the Lakers, but he left late in the fourth quarter with left ankle soreness, departing with 31 points on 11-for-19 shooting.

Lakers coach JJ Redick said pre-game that Leonard is back to being a force on both sides of the basketball.

That’s why so much of the Lakers’ gameplan centered around trying to slow down Leonard, who is eighth in the NBA in scoring (27.8) and tied for first in steals (2.0).

“He’s more consistently taking the tougher assignments right now, and he’s back to being just an elite two-way player on both ends of the floor,” Redick said. “And you know, he’s playing as well as anybody in the NBA right now for the last two months, whatever the starting point would be, but it really is on both sides of the ball.”

Leonard is a primary reason why the Clippers are still rolling despite having traded away two key pieces in guard James Harden and center Ivicia Zubac.

The Clippers started the season 6-21, looking nothing like a playoff team.

But then they beat the Lakers on Dec. 20 and that got the Clippers rolling to a 21-7 stretch entering Friday night’s game, a two-month period that saw them get to one game under .500.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said none of the Clippers ever gave up on the season, adding they were always “playing to win” no matter whether they had “young, old, toddlers” on the court.

“I just feel confident,” Lue said. “I just feel confident in our players, confident in our coaching staff and I just feel confident in the environment and the culture that we’ve set. Why wouldn’t we want to play to win? That’s our mindset. That’s my mindset every single night. As tough as it may be or you start 6-21 whatever it may be, you’re playing to win. So, we make it to the playoffs and anything can happen. So our goal is to make it to the playoffs. I don’t know why somebody would scoff at that.”

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