How The Bruins Made History While Winning A National Championship
With a dominant 79-51, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins defeated the University of South Carolina Gamecocks to win the NCAA Division I National Championship. This marks the first National Championship for the Bruins in the NCAA Era.
The Bruins now become the sixth school ever to win both a men’s and women’s Division 1 NCAA title joining UConn, Stanford, North Carolina, Maryland and Baylor.
Seniors Leave Their Mark
For UCLA, the game was impacted by six seniors. The group of Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez, Gianna Kneepkens, KiKi Rice, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Angela Dugalic scored 100% of UCLA’s points in the last two games, including all 79 points in the championship game.
Lauren Betts, who won the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player ends her final college season becoming the fourth player to win their respective conference player of the year and win their program’s first national title.
Betts also became the 6th player to average 20 points and multiple blocks per game in the NCAA Tournament while winning a National Championship.
Lauren Betts also, while making some history, did it with her sister Sienna Betts, who is a freshman.
Defense Wins Championships
The Senior-led Bruins also made impacts on the defensive end with the 79-51 win being the third biggest win in the national championship in NCAA history.
Between the championship game and the final four versus Texas, UCLA allowed 95 total points, which is the second fewest points ever allowed by a national championship, trailing only Tennessee in 2008.
D.J. Harding is a sports reporter for HUNewsService.com.
