lauren betts

The first UCLA player off the WNBA draft board Monday night was Lauren Betts, who went No. 4 overall to the Washington Mystics.

Betts’ selection touched off a lengthy Bruins celebration in New York, with UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez selected No. 5 by the Chicago Sky and UCLA guard Kiki Rice selected No. 6 by expansion team Toronto Tempo.

After a brief break, UCLA forward Angela Dugalic was next in line. She was selected with the No. 9 pick by the Washington Mystics, where she will join Betts.

It is the second time the same college had four players selected in the first round. The last time was in 2002 when UConn had four first-round draft picks.

Betts averaged 17.1 points per game, 8.8 rebounds and shot 58.2% from the field as a senior in the Bruins’ national championship run. She was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, was an AP All-American First Team and Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

“I play with joy,” Betts said on ESPN after she was drafted. “This season has been so joyful. … You can see all the positivity that I play with.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected No. 4 by the Washington Mystics Monday.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

She also joined her former Stanford teammate and USC rival Kiki Iriafen, who was a first-round pick last year.

“It’s been amazing, I’ve grown so much, my confidence, I’ve owned who I am as a player and a person,” Betts said.

Jaquez spent all four seasons with UCLA and was one of the most improved players in the nation en route to helping the Bruins win a national title. She averaged 13.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and shot 53.9% from the field and 39% from three-point range.

“I’m so excited to be here, I think having these dreams of going to UCLA and going to the WNBA and to achieve them not only by myself, but with my teammates means everything,” she told ESPN.

UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected No. 5 by the Chicago Sky on Monday.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

She was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team and was an All-Big Ten second team selection.

“Going into every game and doing what the team needs,” she said about how she wanted to contribute to Chicago. “I’m going into training camp ready to learn, being a sponge and being myself and working hard.”

Rice played four seasons for the Bruins and scored 14.9 points per game with 5.9 rebounds last season while picking up 4.3 assists and averaging a 49% from the field. She was named an AP third-team All-American, was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team and was on the Big Ten First Team and all-Defensive team.

“I take a ton of pride in being the best teammate and figuring out how to make everyone better around me,” she told ESPN. “Really excited to get to work and meet everyone. It’s going to be really important to have great leadership.”

UCLA guard Kiki Rice poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected No. 6 by the Toronto Tempo on Monday.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

Rice was grateful so many UCLA players got a chance to celebrate getting selected.

“This is so special,” she said. “Every one of us here deserves it so much.”

Dugalic came off the bench last season as the Bruins’ sixth player after starting the previous two seasons. In her role, she was one of the most steady veteran players in the country.

“That’s gonna be great,” Dugalic said to ESPN of playing with Betts. “I’m super excited for that. That will be a smooth transition, playing with her.”

UCLA forward Angela Dugalic poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected No. 9 by the Washington Mystics on Monday.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

The Big Ten Sixth Player of the year averaged 9.0 points per game, 5.6 rebounds and shot 50.2% from the field. She can shoot from range at 32.6% and is a tough perimeter defender and can bang in the post at 6-foot-4.

Earlier in the draft, UConn guard Azzi Fudd was selected by Dallas Wings with the No. 1 overall pick. Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles was selected by the Minnesota Lynx with the No. 2 pick. Awa Fam Thiam, who played in Spain, was selected by the Seattle Storm with the No. 3 pick.

In between UCLA picks, Iyana Martín Carrión, of Spain, was selected No. 7 overall by the Portland Fire. LSU star Flau’jae Johnson was selected No. 8 by the Golden State Valkyries.

South Carolina’s Raven Johnson was selected No. 10 by the Indiana Fever. Ole Miss’ Cotie McMahon was selected No. 11 by the Washington Mystics. Nell Angloma, of France, was selected No. 12 by the Connecticut Sun. South Carolina’s Madina Okot was selected No. 13 by the Atlanta Dream. Duke’s Taina Mair was selected No. 14 by the Seattle Storm.

The Sparks are idle in the first round and will make picks in the second and third rounds.

Check back for more updates throughout the draft.

It was ugly.

It was beautiful.

It was a messy rock fight.

It was Bruin ballet.

In front of a stunned crowd at Phoenix’ Mortgage Matchup Center Friday night, the UCLA women’s basketball team defied stereotypes and defined toughness and did what few believed this dancing, dazzling group could do.

They beat somebody up.

They stared down presumably rougher Texas in the national semifinals and painted the floor in streaks of Longhorn and won the second-most important game of their lives.

Now they get to play the most important.

With their 51-44 victory over the burned Orange, the Bruins have advanced to the national championship game Sunday against a physically dominant group from powerhouse South Carolina.

UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots over Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four matchup Friday in Phoenix.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Put up your dukes.

If you thought UCLA needed to take off the gloves against Texas, wait until they go bare knuckles with the deep and experienced Gamecocks.

Based on legacy alone, the national title bout is a mismatch.

South Carolina, under legendary coach Dawn Staley, is playing in the national championship game for the third straight year and fourth time in five years. Meanwhile, this is UCLA’s first title game appearance in the NCAA era.

South Carolina has won three championships in the last eight non-COVID-19 seasons. Meanwhile, UCLA is searching for its first NCAA championship and first title of any sort since Ann Meyers Drysdale led the Bruins to the 1978 AIAW crown.title.

Count the Bruins out if you must. But against Texas, a team that had dominated them during the regular season, the Bruins did all the counting as the Longhorns lay flat on their backs during an eventual knockout.

It turns out, being led by six seniors and graduate students on a mission to finish their careers together as champions matters. It turns out, a willingness to do whatever it takes to win that title matters even more.

And it turns out, 30 straight wins means something. These Bruins don’t flinch. These Bruins don’t retreat. These Bruins don’t have any doubt that they can survive whatever South Carolina throws at them, even if that’s enough fists and fury to make semifinal-losing UConn coach Geno Auriemma lose his mind during a profane in-game interview Friday on ESPN.

“The job’s not finished,” said Gabriela Jaquez, who once again seemingly showed up around every loose ball. “Still have one more game to win.”

UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez drives toward the basket under pressure from Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four semifinal on Friday in Arizona.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

This game began, appropriately enough, with Angela Dugalic blocking Aston Judd’s shot and then glaring at her as the Longhorn lay in a heap.

“It’s such an amazing thing that we have another opportunity to play together,” said Dugalic. “One more day.”

This game ended with Lauren Betts blocking Madison Booker’s layup attempt with 18 seconds remaining and Texas trailing by just three.

“Oh my God,” said Charlisse Leger-Walker. “Another Lauren Betts specialty.”

After the block, Betts screamed loud enough to be heard from the desert to Westwood. Soon thereafter, her teammates were screaming with her.

“We knew it was going to be a tough, physical game and we knew we had to match that intensity,” said Kiki Rice.

Did they ever.

Defensively, they held Texas star Madison Booker to three baskets off 23 attempts, including an unbelievable 17 straight misses at one point. Their Bruins’ pressure was so intense, Texas took 21 more shots and still lost by seven.

Offensively, four different players scored in double figures while they had 13 assists on 18 baskets. Yeah, they committed 23 turnovers, the most in a Final Four game in 18 years. But who’s counting?

“I want to apologize to all the fans for the rugby match,” said Bruins coach Cori Close.

No apology necessary.

UCLA forward Angela Dugalic blocks a layup attempt by Texas guard Ashton Judd during thier Final Four game Friday in Phoenix.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

The Bruins dominated from the outset, holding Texas to a season-low six points in the first quarter as the Longhorns made just three shots. Hampered by their own mistakes, UCLA let Texas stay in the game until scores by Betts, Rice and Jaquez widened the gap to 10 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Texas battled back to within one possession late, but Betts’ block sealed it for a team that has come too far and endured too much to be bothered by even the most furious of comeback attempts. For the record, the mighty Texas team led for all of 54 seconds.

“This is amazing,” said Betts.

There are players on this team that have made four straight trips to the Sweet 16 and consecutive trips to the Final Four. South Carolina knocked the Bruins out during one of those tournaments. They’re well aware it could easily happen again.

But pressure moments Sunday afternoon with the basketball world watching? Bring it on.

“I think in those moments, we’re just so connected that regardless of what the score is, we could have been down 10, we still would have been as connected as if we were up 10,” said Betts, who missed only three of 10 shots and had 11 rebounds. “I’m just really proud of this group. I think it shows the maturity. I know I can count on anybody on this team, regardless of what the score is. We’re going to continue to show up and compete.”

For one more game. For one last time. For forever.

SACRAMENTO — When the confetti dropped after the final buzzer, the UCLA women’s basketball team was dancing.

Lauren Betts and Charlisse Leger-Walker looked at each other as Tate McRae’s “Just Keep Watching” played, then Gabriela Jaquez, from across the court, locked eyes and raced to join them in time.

It was time, once again, for the Bruins to celebrate by performing their dance routine. This time, No. 1 UCLA also answered a key question during its Final Four-clinching 70-58 win over No. 3 Duke.

Yes, the Bruins (35-1), barely challenged all season and always dancing and smiling, could actually deal with adversity after all.

UCLA earned its second straight Final Four berth despite trailing at halftime for the second time all season and coming from behind to win while down in the second half for the first time.

They will face the winner of Monday’s game between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Michigan.

“That was definitely adversity,” said Gianna Kneepkens, who scored seven points. “We regrouped, and the way we were talking to each other gives me so much confidence.”

UCLA trailed Duke 39-31 at the half after missing all four three-point attempts and committing 12 turnovers.

UCLA center Lauren Betts drives to the basket over Duke forward Toby Fournier in the first half of the Bruins’ win in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA tournament Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“We really didn’t execute our game plan very well,” UCLA coach Cori Close said of the first half. “We didn’t control rebounds. We weren’t the aggressors in creating catches. We didn’t go strong to the rim and execute our stuff.”

But they turned on the aggression early in the third quarter, taking deeper shots and forcing three jump-balls and four turnovers as the Bruins rallied from a deficit in the second half for the first time all season. UCLA outscored Duke 20-8 in the third quarter.

“We were really reactive in that first half and let the game come to us,” said Leger-Walker, who finished with five points and six assists. “We let them dictate what was going on out there. It’s not how we’ve played in the season, when we’ve been up and feeling good. So, you know, we could feel that coming into halftime, and we all kind of took a breath, reset, and a lot of that was on the defensive side.”

Betts was also activated late, with 15 of her 23 points and eight of her 10 rebounds coming in the second half while she matched a season high five blocks.

“I was pretty mad,” Betts said of her emotions at halftime. “I just didn’t like how that first half happened. I know that I could have been a lot more aggressive. I think going into a game like this, sometimes you just take yourself out of your head and you realize, oh, this is the Elite Eight and my season is on the line. So I’ve got to wake up a little bit. Going into the locker room, I was just pretty certain that I wanted to win this game.”

Angela Dugalic shot four of eight with four rebounds and two steals in the second half and was the catalyst for many big moments, including a buzzer-beating floater to end the third quarter and a lead-extending layup and free throw off an offensive rebound to create separation in the fourth. She finished with 15 points off the bench.

Dugalic and the other veterans led a halftime conversation before Close came into the locker room.

“When Cori came in, she was super steady, and I think that gave us a sense of calm,” Dugalic said. “We still were pretty neutral. We understood that the first half wasn’t a good representation of how we want to play basketball. But Cori came in and what she said right now is, like, ‘How do we stick back to our values and stay neutral, focus on next-play speed?’”

Duke forward Delaney Thomas, left, tries to draw a foul against UCLA forward Angela Dugalic during the first half Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Duke (27-9) scored 18 points off the Bruins’ 18 turnovers, tied for the most UCLA has committed all season. Twelve of them came in the first half. But UCLA turned it around in the second half with 18 points off 13 Duke turnovers.

The Blue Devils entered the game limiting opponents to 26.8% from three-point range, ranking 15th nationally, and aggressively challenged the Bruins’ offense. UCLA responded by becoming one dimensional, solely trying to get the ball to Betts in the post.

But Gabriela Jaquez, who finished with nine points and five rebounds, hit a three-pointer early in the third quarter to get UCLA back within five, and Duke missed six consecutive shots while the Bruins narrowed the gap. Toby Fournier (10 points) also committed her third foul early in the quarter, forcing the Blue Devils’ center off the floor.

Both offenses stalled for a period in the third quarter, but consecutive Duke turnovers led to a Leger-Walker fast-break layup and a Kneepkens three-pointer for UCLA’s first lead since the opening seconds of the game.

Duke didn’t score for 5:40 during the third quarter until Taina Mair (team-high 21 points) made a free throw with 32 seconds remaining. The eight Blue Devils’ points were tied for the fewest they’ve scored in a quarter this season.

“You can only learn from moments like this, which is a really positive thing,” said Leger-Walker, with one piece of the NCAA tournament net tied to her Final Four hat. “Definitely not something we want to have as a pattern, though.”

The Bruins held the ball with the clock running down, and Leger-Walker dribbled it to around the top of the three-point line and stopped. Her teammates surrounded her and the group huddled around each other as time expired.

“I just said, ‘I love you guys,’” Betts said of the moment. “That was it. I said, ‘I love you guys.’”

They’ll dance on down to Phoenix next, looking not to avenge the Final Four defeat to UConn a year ago, but ready to prove they have grown to be a championship team.

“Now we really know what it takes to build a rally too,” Rice said.

UCLA center Lauren Betts holds up a piece of the net after the Bruins’ win over Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament Sunday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

SACRAMENTO — The team that can’t stop dancing won’t stop dancing.

The top-seeded UCLA women’s basketball team beat Duke 70-58 in the Elite Eight. It wasn’t balletic, but beautiful.

Sunday’s game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento wasn’t a fun, free-flowing joy ride that so many of the Bruins’ wins have been this season.

It was a rattling, teeth-gritting, heart-thumping roller-coaster ride — weeeeee!

The Bruins weren’t having fun, exactly. They were having the time of their lives.

And in the end, they shoved their way to the front of the stage — and back to the Final Four.

Now the TikTok countdown is on before final exams in Phoenix, where redemption and legacy and a rematch await with either winner of the No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Michigan tussle in the Fort Worth Regional final.

And any questions — ahem, mine — about how the barely-battled-tested boogie-down Bruins respond to a significant stress test were answered.

The Bruins are built for this.

They’re not just talented. And they’re not just talented dancers (and postgame, Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez reprised the routine that went viral when they did it with the UCLA Dance Team during halftime of a men’s game this season).

They’re tough. And they’re locked in.

And unlike last season, when their program’s Final Four debut ended in a 85-51 national semifinal blowout loss to eventual champion Connecticut, they’re ready for what comes next.

They let us know in the second half Sunday.

Duke came floating in, still buzzing from Friday’s buzzer-beater in the Sweet 16. That slow-motion-in-real-time three-pointer by Ashlon Jackson that rolled around and around the rim as though the basketball gods needed just a little more time to determine UCLA’s opponent Sunday.

UCLA’s Lauren Betts, left, Gabriela Jaquez celebrate after the Bruins defeated Duke on Sunday to advance to the Final Four.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

It was to be Duke, who proved a dangerous No. 3 seed. The Bruins weren’t prepared for the Blue Devils to be so prepared for them, trailing at the break for just the second time this season. The first time was in November against Texas, when the Bruins — now a program-record 35-1 — suffered their only loss this season.

Still their only loss.

Even a fool could read the determination on the Bruins’ faces as they roared back from a 39-31 halftime deficit; they’d come so far together, but they so badly wanted to go further.

No one was ready to get off the ride, not least the six seniors who played the entirety of the second half, seizing momentum and the moment and hitting the Blue Devils (27-9) with a white-knuckled flurry of activity.

“Compliment them,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said, “for turning up their defensive intensity.”

There were 50-50 balls in name only, because UCLA seemed to be winning 100% of them.

UCLA players were ripping away passes. They were diving all over the floor and were all over the boards. They ratcheted up the intensity so much it spread into the stands, where the largely pro-Bruins crowd of 9,627 cheered deliriously.

Shots started falling. Turnovers stopped cascading. UCLA found its rhythm.

And UCLA’s 6-foot-7 star center Betts did what she does, with 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in the second half, of which she played all 20 minutes.

“I was just pretty mad,” she said. “You know, my senior season is on the line, so I kind of got to wake up a little bit.”

Angela Dugalic continued to be the matchup nightmare she has been all March; the 6-4 sixth woman scored 15 timely points to take some pressure off Betts.

UCLA coach Cori Close watches play during the Bruins’ win over Duke on Sunday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“I’m just so proud of her,” Betts said. “The confidence and her poise … you could get in your head in moments when we’re down … but she did all the right things and what we needed at the time.”

It was an entertaining Elite Eight clash that was brought to you by two coaches who staged, like up-and-coming chefs, under two of the greatest leaders the sports world has known.

UCLA coach Cori Close and Lawson committed to making sure we won’t lose John Wooden’s and Pat Summitt’s recipes — never mind all the seismic, disorienting shifts happening in college sports.

A former Tennessee star, Lawson brings Summitt’s brand crackling intensity to Duke, a mindset that she’s said calls for supreme confidence, chasing excellence and holding oneself to an all-around standard of success.

UCLA’s bench was uplifted all season by Close’s warm intentionality, learned from years of mentorship from Wooden. The main ingredients, she’ll tell you, requiring a dollop of growth, gratitude, of giving and not taking.

“[Our] team culture is not this nebulous thing or phrases on a wall,” Close said. “It’s a group of people that are willing to be committed to the hard, right behaviors over and over again. I cannot tell you how many times throughout that game we referred to our values, who we are, what our identity was, what we had to get back to.

“… I’m just really humbled and thankful to be a part of a team and staff that cares about things from the inside out. What you saw on the court is a reflection and a byproduct of what’s happened on the inside.”

Lauren Betts arrived at UCLA unsure she could continue playing college basketball.

After a turbulent freshman season at Stanford almost took her out of the game entirely, she joined rising stars Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice in Westwood.

Betts blossomed in three seasons as a Bruin, but none of her games were as special as the final one she played at Pauley Pavilion. During a second-round NCAA tournament win over Oklahoma State on Monday that at times was closer than many expected, Betts dropped a career-high 35 points and nine rebounds to lead UCLA to the Sweet 16.

“This community, the minute that I transferred over here, has just welcomed me with open arms,” Betts said. “The fans have just been so supportive of me through my entire journey, through my mental challenges, through just basketball, everything. I feel like I’ve grown so much, and they have really taken care of me here.

“It’s not even about basketball to me at this point. Like the people, like Coach Cori [Close] said, that we’ve been able to affect and just the difference that we’ve made, I think has been huge. And so for me, like, just to see all the people waving at us at the end of the game was really special.”

Betts wrote about her journey to joy on March 9 in The Players Tribune, the second time she has spoken or written in detail about her battle with depression and thoughts of taking her own life. She has become well known for not being afraid to be honest about her mental health challenges and being an advocate for those in need of support. It has endeared her to the UCLA community that’s embraced her, along with her teammates.

She wrote that her transparency about suicidal thoughts and an ensuing hospital stay midway through her sophomore season, first with her UCLA teammates, felt like a release from all the anxiety and self doubt that hounded her as she tried to live up to expectations at Stanford and UCLA.

“I want people to know that I’m doing better,” Betts wrote. “But I also want to be very realistic. My mental health isn’t perfect. It’s an ongoing project.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, and teammate Charlisse Leger-Walker laugh together on the bench during Monday’s NCAA tournament game against Oklahoma State.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Her teammates are in awe of her efforts to be the best person she can on and off the floor.

“She makes everyone better not just because of the basketball player she is, but the leader she is,” said Gianna Kneepkens, a graduate student who transferred from Utah to UCLA. “She challenges us, she pushes us, she just wants what’s best for the team. When people are getting tripled, she’s not worried about, ‘Oh, like, can I get the points?’ She’s seeing who is open so that we can score. So I just have had such a great time playing with Lauren and she’s one of the biggest reasons I came here.”

During the Oklahoma State win, UCLA led from wire to wire. But the Cowgirls outscored the Bruins in the second half and the Bruins’ shooting fizzled out during a tense third quarter. Betts, however, didn’t falter.

Her 35 points came in just 34 minutes. She was 15 of 19 from the field and nearly reached a double-double with nine rebounds.

Betts had long established herself as one of the best players in the country, but she doesn’t lead the nation in scoring, in part, because UCLA is a balanced team with many scoring options. Her performance against Oklahoma State was a reminder that she is still the Bruins’ most formidable player and remains the heart of the program’s push to win a national championship.

“That [scoring is] always in her bag,” Jaquez said. “Maybe some nights she passes more, but that’s just what makes her so special. She’s going to win 99% of her matchups.”

UCLA’s offense runs through its star center even with some of the best shooters in the country. Their starting lineup spaces the floor, with former Washington State leading scorer Charlisse Leger-Walker as a fifth option.

“She puts a lot of pressure on herself a lot of the time and always blames herself when she shouldn’t be and no one else is thinking that way,” Leger-Walker said of Betts. “And I think over this past year, she’s really been working on trying to not do that so she can be the best she can for this team. We obviously need her to be confident, just being able to trust herself, because that is what is going to make our team so much better.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots the ball during the Bruins’ NCAA tournament win over Oklahoma State at Pauley Pavilion on Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

There are games that often belong to someone else. Jaquez has turned in big games this season and Rice was the Big Ten tournament most outstanding player. The Bruins have featured six different leading scorers across all games this season.

But it still always comes back to Betts, who has been UCLA’s top scorer a team high 14 times.

“Lauren is one of those players that is always so dominant,” Leger-Walker said after the win over Oklahoma State. “I didn’t even know until she came out that she had 30-something [points.] I was like, ‘Yeah, what the heck?’ That’s just her, you know, she’s a bucket. And she’s gonna always be dominant in that fashion and she is just such an impact player for this team.”

Betts’ 27 minutes, 17.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game are slightly down from last season. Her 3.2 assists per game are slightly up. Her role, like many other UCLA players, has evolved to fit the star-studded lineup.

In the same way Leger-Walker went from a three-point sniper to a point guard or Rice went from a distributor to a shooter and Jaquez from a hoop driver to a three-level scorer, Betts transformed from a post-up only scorer to the conductor of the Bruins’ office in the middle of the floor.

“She anchors us on both ends, down in the paint, especially defensively,” Rice said. “Her ability to switch out on guards and play on the perimeter and help us out is really, really big. And obviously offensively, she’s such a big offensive player.”

If the Bruins do win a national title, it’ll be on the back of their star. Sure, UCLA is a team full of them, but Betts is still, as Jaquez describes her, “that girl.”

For one last run, Betts can be that for a community and team where she’s found not just acceptance, but true celebration.

“I think she’s found a really deep purpose,” Close said. “And when you can use your pain for great purpose and other centeredness to have an incredible legacy in the lives of others, that’s an incredible gift. But it’s a gift that she’s worked really, really hard for.”

On a day when No. 1 seeds dominated, UCLA wasn’t the exception.

The top-seeded Bruins led wire-to-wire, beating No. 8-seed Oklahoma State 87-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion to advance to the Sweet 16.

They will face No. 4-seed Minnesota on Friday in Sacramento.

While UCLA started much better than it did in its opening-round game, there were still elements to nitpick. The Bruins were outscored 21-18 in the third quarter, Oklahoma State won the offensive rebounding battle and outside of Lauren Betts — who scored a career-high 35 points while shooting 15 of 19 — the offense fell flat at times in the second half.

But with arguably the best post player in the country, the Bruins overcame all of that.

UCLA (33-1) jumped out to an 11-2 lead while the Cowgirls (24-10) went the final 4:26 without scoring and shot 0 for 8 from the field during that span. The Bruins turned that into a 25-point lead and were up 46-26 at halftime.

Unlike the first-round victory over California Baptist on Saturday, UCLA came out cold to start the third quarter. The Bruins missed six shots in a row while Oklahoma State went on a 9-0 run to narrow the deficit to 13.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, left, fights for the ball with Oklahoma State forward Achol Akot during the Bruins’ win Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The Cowgirls shot 51.4% from the field in the second half to stay within striking distance while UCLA’s offense went mostly cold. But Oklahoma State’s leading scorer, Achol Akot (23 points), had four fouls by the start of the fourth quarter and had to spend much of the quarter on the bench.

Betts scored 11 consecutive UCLA points in the final four minutes of the third to put the Bruins ahead by 19. In addition, she finished the game with nine rebounds and five assists.

Gianna Kneepkens (15 points) made a couple of key shots in the fourth quarter to help jolt the Bruins’ shooting, but it was still Betts’ dominant showing that kept UCLA well ahead. Of UCLA’s 87 points, 50 came in the paint.

UCLA’s next opponent, the Golden Gophers (24-8), advanced on a buzzer-beater against No. 5-seed Mississippi on Sunday. The Bruins beat Minnesota 76-58 on the road during conference play earlier this season.

In less than two months, six UCLA women’s basketball players might be working out with WNBA teams. The draft is April 13, a week after the NCAA national championship game, and the season starts less than a month later.

One of the most consequential pieces of the new WNBA collective bargaining agreement for current college players, including the UCLA super senior class, is expanded rosters.

Not only are two new teams — Portland and Toronto — entering the WNBA this season and adding 24 roster spots, but the new CBA will allow each team to have 12 traditional roster spots and two developmental player spots.

The new developmental players will get housing assistance and can practice and travel with their respective WNBA squads.

UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker, left, and Angela Dugalic, back, swarm California Baptist forward Grace Schmidt during an NCAA tournament game at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Across the country during the NCAA tournament, players and coaches have noted how much the new WNBA CBA changes the future for the next generation of players.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley noted to reporters last week that it’s one of the first times many women’s basketball players will be able to accumulate generational wealth. And they can do so without necessarily having to play in other leagues around the world during the WNBA offseason.

“The WNBA will make you make a choice because you have to be on time in training camp.” Staley said. “It’s worth it now. It’s worth it to actually have your body recover and just play in the WNBA season.”

Last season, just 20 rookies made rosters out of training camp. The fight for those spots might get more competitive for some young players now that the league offers higher salaries and some high-end international players might find it more worthwhile to sign in the WNBA.

Teams are now required to roster 12 players, compared with the option to have 11 instead of 12 under the previous CBA, which allowed franchises to spend more on top players and have less of a cap hit by triming their roster size.

But likely, more players who otherwise wouldn’t have gotten looks or would have been cut during past training camps will now have a realistic shot a developmental player spot.

“I just feel a lot of pride,” said UCLA sixth-year forward Angela Dugalic. “Because of them, I’m able to have a lot of things that they maybe weren’t able to have at the start of their career. And some of them, like, they’re either at the end of their career or they’re even finished right now, they’re still fighting for us.”

The entire UCLA starting lineup — Charlisse Leger-Walker, Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts, Gianna Kneepkens and Gabriela Jaquez, plus Dugalic off the bench — project as WNBA picks, most as early as the first round.

Kneepkens or Leger-Walker (though she was recovering from an ACL injury) would have been WNBA draft-eligible after last season. Their rookie salaries would have been around $70,000, depending on where they were selected. This year, the rookie minimum will be $270,000, and top picks, which Betts and Rice are projected to be, will make as much as $500,000.

“Just like the growth we’re even experiencing now in college, we have so many people before us to thank that. [They] fought for better exposure and TV rights … fought for Title IX and resources to be allocated appropriately,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I think it’s similar right now in terms of the CBA. We need to really thank the people in that room that fought hard.”

UCLA guard Kiki Rice dribbles up the floor under pressure from California Baptist guard Filipa Barros Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA players are understandably locked in on the NCAA tournament, but they haven’t ignored an important moment.

“I think it’s awesome for women’s basketball and the progress going forward,” Leger-Walker said. “I love that we have players who are willing to advocate and really stand on what they believe in. We’re making steps forward.”

Where they all fit on individual teams or in respective mock drafts will all be more clear after free agency begins in the week ahead of the draft. Around 80% of the league are free agents, so there are going to be plenty of new-look teams.

UCLA players will soon get a chance to join those roster makeovers under working conditions past players never enjoyed.

“I’m just grateful for all the women who fought for what they’ve earned,” Kneepkens said. “That’s just super cool for anyone that’s a WNBA fan and anyone that’s part of it. They made this happen.”