EAST LANSING, Mich. — Lauren Betts had 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists and No. 2 UCLA pushed its winning streak to 18 games by thumping No. 13 Michigan State 86-63 on Wednesday night.
Kiki Rice finished with 18 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins (24-1, 14-0 Big Ten). Gabriela Jaquez added 13 points, all in the first half, and Gianna Kneepkens chipped in 12.
UCLA now has nine wins over ranked opponents, six in conference play.
Rashunda Jones scored 15 points and Emma Shumate had 12 for the Spartans (20-5, 9-5), who have dropped three of their last four games. Grace VanSlooten and Kennedy Blair, the team’s top scorers entering the game, were held to a combined 18 points on six-for-25 shooting.
UCLA, which led by 31 points, outscored Michigan State 56-22 in the paint and had a 48-28 rebounding advantage.
Their matchup last season in Los Angeles wasn’t decided until late in the game, when the Bruins pulled out a 75-69 victory. Betts missed that game with a foot injury but the Spartans couldn’t avoid her imposing 6-foot-7 presence this time.
Coming off a hotly contested 69-66 victory over No. 8 Michigan on Sunday, the Bruins were in total control from the start.
UCLA scored on its six first possessions while powering to a 44-20 halftime lead, capped off by Jaquez’s three-pointer. Betts had 13 points by the break, while the Spartans were unable to get anything going in halfcourt sets or transition.
Michigan State hasn’t defeated a top-two team at home since 2005.
Headlined by first and third quarter dominance, No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball picked up a 86-46 win over Rutgers (9-14, 1-11) at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night.
Kiki Rice led the Bruins (22-1, 12-0 Big Ten) with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Gabriela Jaquez got things started, scoring 10 of her 14 points in the first quarter.
Rutgers, playing without its two leading scorers in Nene Ndiaye and Imani Lester, committed 18 turnovers that the Bruins converted into 25 points.
During the Bruins’ first possession of the game, Rice stepped back from the three-point line, shooting an air ball. But she followed that miss with the Bruins’ next three scores from the field, all three coming off the break.
UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots while being guarded by Rutgers’ Kaylah Ivey Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.
(Caroline Brehman / Associated Press)
And while the Scarlet Knights got on the scoreboard first with a three-pointer, they missed five layups and committed five turnovers, with the Bruins taking advantage for 11 points in the quarter. The Scarlet Knights’ six first-quarter points were the fewest scored by a Bruin opponent in the first period this season.
UCLA jumped to a 26-6 lead over the Scarlet Knights by the end of the first quarter, but it couldn’t extend that lead in the second, scoring just 14 points to Rutgers’ 13.
The Bruins also struggled to hold onto the ball in the second quarter, committing seven turnovers — although the Scarlet Knights scored just three points off the miscues. And while UCLA went three for eight on three pointers in the first period, it couldn’t bury one in the second off five attempts.
UCLA struggled to separate itself from Rutgers during the fourth quarter when the Bruins substituted in their bench players. UCLA was outscored 19-18 in the final period.
Two-thirds of the way through conference play, UCLA has six games remaining before the Big Ten tournament, with a game at No. 8 Michigan at noon PST Sunday.
Angela Dugalic scored 22 points off the bench, Kiki Rice had 17 and Lauren Betts added 16 as the UCLA women’s basketball team recorded its eighth win against a ranked opponent with a dominant 88-65 victory over No. 8 Iowa on Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion.
“I’m proud to be part of this team,” Dugalic said. “It’s fun to play with these girls. We’re not taking any team for granted. At the end of the day, if you’re our next opponent, that’s who we’re concentrating on.”
The No. 2 Bruins (21-1 overall, 11-0 Big Ten) won their 15th straight game and improved to 10-0 at home. They lead the conference by one game over No. 9 Michigan, which beat No. 13 Michigan State in overtime Sunday.
Charlisse Leger-Walker finished with 10 points, five assists and five rebounds. Gianna Kneepkens added 10 points, four assists and four rebounds, and Rice dished out seven assists for UCLA, which improved to 3-1 all time against Iowa and 3-0 under coach Cori Close.
“I’m thrilled for Angela getting a career high today, but what I’m happy about most is how many different people are stepping up,” Close said. “We’ve got plenty of weapons. This group couldn’t have been more happy for Angela. I love the way they celebrate each other’s growth.”
Ava Heiden netted 19 points and Hannah Stuelke added 13 for the Hawkeyes (18-4, 9-2), who were trying to rebound from Thursday night’s 81-69 loss to unranked USC at Galen Center.
It was supposed to be UCLA’s toughest game since its defeat to No. 4 Texas in December. Instead the Bruins made it look easy by getting every player involved. They racked up 29 assists and were 50% from three-point range and eight for eight at the free-throw line.
UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez drives to the basket against Iowa in the first half.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
No. 1 Connecticut routed No. 15 Tennessee by 30 to stay undefeated while Texas, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Louisiana State and No. 7 Louisville also won Sunday.
Having lost to the top two teams in the country, Iowa coach Jan Jensen was asked to compare them.
“Both are outstanding at every position,” Jensen said. “Lauren [Betts] is so hard to guard. One difference is UConn’s full-court pressure. You could put your money on both of them to be there at the end. Maybe a slight edge to UConn, only because they press, but I have all the respect in the world for Cori and her staff. They do it the right way. UCLA is really good. They saw what we were trying to do and made us not play our best.”
Close said her team is not where she wants it to be quite yet.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice, right, looks for a pass in front of Iowa guard Chit-Chat Wright during the first half Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
“Losing to UConn in the tournament last year taught me that you can never be satisfied,” Close said. “The edge is a really good place and I want us to live on that edge every day, not rely on our talent.”
Rice’s layup capped a 6-0 run to put the Bruins up by 13 with 4:21 left in the first half. Iowa closed within eight before Kneepkens drained a corner three at the buzzer to give UCLA a 39-28 lead at halftime. UCLA outscored Iowa 28-10 in the paint in the half.
Betts’ jumper increased the Bruins’ lead to 22 with 3:10 left in the third, but she picked up her fourth personal foul two minutes later and Iowa took advantage while scoring the final five points of the quarter. Dugalic’s third three-pointer gave UCLA its largest lead, 86-59, with a little more than three minutes left.
“The confidence we have is mainly because we know we put in the work in practice,” Betts said. “Coach never lets up in terms of playing to our standard. We try to get ball inside because we have amazing post presence. We want to do that.”
UCLA hosts Rutgers on Wednesday before its showdown with Michigan next Sunday.
“Angela earned everything she got today,” Close said. “Sure, she benefits from how dominant Lauren is, but we posted her up, we ran plays to get her three … show me a more versatile forward in the country than her.”
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.
