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Trent Perry scored 23 points, including clutch free throws down the stretch, Tyler Bilodeau overcame foul trouble to score 19, Donovan Dent had 17 points and 10 assists and Eric Dailey Jr. scored 14 as UCLA held off Washington 77-73 Saturday night in a Big Ten clash at Pauley Pavilion.

Ahead of a pivotal Midwest trip to No. 2 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan State starting on Valentine’s Day, the Bruins wrapped up their three-game homestand on a positive note after splitting the first two, a one-point, double-overtime loss to Indiana followed by a 22-point blowout of Rutgers in which five players scored in double digits.

The Bruins (17-7, 9-4) struggled against Washington much as they did in the teams’ first meeting Dec. 3 in Seattle, when they escaped with an 82-80 victory thanks to 25 points (including six three-pointers) by Skyy Clark, who has sat out the past 10 games with a hamstring injury.

A winner in 10 of its last 14 games, UCLA will not host its next game until a Feb. 21 matchup with fifth-ranked Illinois.

Wesley Yates III scored 12 of the Huskies’ first 16 points as they built an eight-point lead in the first eight minutes. The Bruins pulled ahead 25-23 on Perry’s three pointer with 6:15 left in the half that capped a 9-0 run, but Washington carried a 34-30 lead to the locker room — the first time UCLA trailed at halftime since its loss at Ohio State on Jan. 17.

Bilodeau, who scored only four points in the first 20 minutes, hit a three pointer 10 seconds into the second half and added another to tie the score at 38. Dent stole the ball at midcourt and drove for a layup to put UCLA in front 47-45 with 13:43 remaining and the Bruins gradually increased the lead while holding the Huskies without a field goal for nearly five minutes.

Washington crept to within 60-58 with 5:39 left on a layup by Yates before Bilodeau’s basket and free throw restored a five-point cushion at the 4:40 mark. Dent’s driving layup made it 67-60 with 1:33 left and the Bruins improved to 13-3 when winning the turnover battle.

Yates finished with 21 points and Hannes Steinbach added 13 for the Huskies (12-12, 4-9), who cut their deficit to two on a layup and free throw by Yates with 23 seconds left. Dailey got fouled and made both shots to make it 75-71 with 21 ticks left. After a layup by Yates with 11 seconds left, Perry sank two free throws to ice the victory four seconds later.

The Bruins were 23 of 29 at the foul line and remain on pace to break the school single-season record for best free throw percentage (75.6) set in 1978-79.

MILAN — Laila Edwards finally got out from under the spotlight and onto the ice for the U.S. women’s hockey team Thursday. It was a simple act, but one that made history.

Yet for Edwards, it was just another day at the office.

“It didn’t feel different at all,” she said. “It’s still hockey at the end of the day. Even though it’s the highest level, it’s still hockey.”

With her first shift in Thursday’s 5-1 win over Czechia, on the first day of hockey at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, Edwards became the first Black woman to play for the U.S. national team in an Olympic tournament. On a team full of record-breakers, it was a significant milestone, one that has become a storyline for the world’s top-ranked team.

“Cameras constantly in her face. She does a good job of whatever she needs to do,” said teammate Tessa Janecke, who had two second-period assists. “It’s very inspiring for us as her teammates, but as well as the next generation.”

And that, of course, is the point.

“Representation matters,” Edwards said. “There’s been a lot of young kids or parents of young kids who have reached out or I’ve run into that say, ‘You know, my daughter plays sports because of you. And she feels seen and represented,’ and that’s just really motivating.”

Just 22, Edwards is already accustomed to breaking barriers and being the youngest this or the first that.

In 2023, she became the first Black player on the women’s senior national team in any competition; a year later, she became, at 20, the youngest player to win the MVP award in the World Championship.

But if doing that has been easy, talking about it has taken some work.

“I could not do interviews or not talk about it, but then the story doesn’t get out there,” she said. “And maybe a little girl doesn’t see me, who looks like her. So I think that’s what’s more important.”

On Thursday, playing before Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a packed house at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena, Edwards marked her Olympic debut by helping put the Americans ahead to stay, feeding Megan Keller in the high slot for a slap shot that Alex Carpenter redirected in a first-period power-play goal.

Second-period goals from Joy Dunne and Hayley Scamurra — both on assists from Janecke — and third-period goals from Scamurra and Hilary Knight, sandwiched around one from Czechia’s Barbora Jurickova, accounted for the final score in a game in which the top-ranked Americans outshot the fourth-ranked Czechs 42-14.

Still, the night belonged to Edwards, a player Knight calls “the future of the sport.” But she’s doing pretty well in the present too, having already won two national championships with Wisconsin and two world championship medals with Team USA.

Edwards started skating shortly after she learned to walk, then switched to hockey before starting kindergarten, when her father Robert, who played the game as a child, enrolled her and three siblings in a youth hockey program. By 8, she was so advanced she was playing with boys’ teams and for high school she left her native Cleveland Heights, Ohio, for the elite girls’ hockey program at Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester, N.Y.

Although she was a high-scoring forward in high school and college — she led the nation with 35 goals as a junior at Wisconsin — she’s proven versatile enough to play on the blue line in the Olympics. That’s a little like playing a running back at right guard.

“I couldn’t even imagine that,” forward Abbey Murphy said of Edwards, who skated a team-high 25 shifts Thursday. “She took it and she just kind of ate it up and she made defenseman look easy. She’s magic on the blue line.”

At 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds — making her the biggest and most physical player on the U.S. team — Edwards was well-suited for the move.

“She’s so dynamic, so athletic, you could put her in goal and she would perform,” said Caroline Harvey, a teammate in high school, college and now with the national team. “She’s just adjusted so well. It’s seamless. It doesn’t even seem like she’s switched positions.”

Edwards hasn’t made her journey to the Olympics alone, however, a fact she acknowledged after Thursday’s game. Although her father is responsible for her start in hockey, it looked like he wouldn’t be able to travel to Milan to see his daughter make history. So Edwards’ parents started a crowdfunding campaign to pay for flights and accommodations.

Jason and Travis Kelce, brothers and former Super Bowl players who also grew up in Cleveland Heights, learned of the campaign and quickly kicked in $10,000, allowing 14 members of Edwards’ family to come to Italy — where their cheers were audible every time her name was announced.

“They show support,” Edwards said. “And they’re really cool guys.”

After her Olympic debut Thursday, there are a lot of little girls who can say the same about Edwards.

Travel expert claims to have found the best time to book holidays in 2026 after analysing pricing data – and it could save you up to 60%

Booking a getaway is thrilling, but when planning our escapes we’re always keen to ensure we’re securing the best deal possible. Nowadays, many holidaymakers turn to online platforms to arrange trips overseas instead of visiting traditional travel agents.

This has afforded travellers greater freedom to make reservations at any hour. Yet an expert has cautioned that prices for identical holidays can fluctuate depending on what time of day you book.

The amount you fork out for your break could hinge entirely on when you hit that booking button.

Travel guru Rob.onthebeach shares his insider tips on social media, and reckons he’s discovered the most economical time to reserve a holiday in 2026.

Rob has scrutinised data daily to pinpoint the cheapest and priciest booking windows, right down to the exact minute, reports the Express.

Based on Rob’s findings, the most costly period to book a holiday falls between 9am and 10am. He elaborated: “Booking in those hours came in 30% more expensive than the cheapest hour of the day”.

Disclosing the most budget-friendly slot, Rob revealed it’s actually in the early hours. The window between 4am and 5am emerged as the optimal time to bag a bargain.

Rob explained: “Overnight, airline pricing systems basically reset. The interest and the demand from the day before all drops off, prices return closer to their base level, then as the day goes on more searches, more clicks, more people just having a look, and prices start to creep back up again.”

The expert conceded that most of us wouldn’t fancy setting our alarms for 4am just to secure a getaway, so he also identified the optimal booking window during reasonable hours.

He discovered that late evening – roughly between 8pm and 10pm – proves “noticeably” more economical than the morning price surge.

Yet if you’re truly after a steal, Rob pinpointed the precise moment that delivered the lowest costs. Rob disclosed: “The cheapest, single minute to book a holiday is 2:48am.

“Booking at that exact moment came out 60% cheaper.”

Despite his research, Rob cautioned that reserving at 2:48am won’t render every single holiday “automatically 60% cheaper”.

He continued: “But the pattern is really clear, if you really want to save money on your holiday, the early hours beat the office hours every time.”