University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Texas
Women's Basketball Outlasts Texas, Advances to National Title Game
April 03, 2026 | Women's Basketball
PHOENIX – The No. 1-seed UCLA women's basketball team advanced to its first-ever NCAA championship appearance with a 51-44 victory over No. 1-seed Texas on Friday night at Mortgage Matchup Center.
The Bruins (36-1) avenged their lone loss from the regular season, holding the Longhorns (35-4) to a season-low 44 points.
The win by UCLA has propelled the Bruins into the national championship matchup for the first time since the NCAA adopted the women's basketball national tournament. The Bruins won the 1978 AIAW national title, marking the last time UCLA played for the women's basketball national championship.
UCLA will take on No. 1-seed South Carolina on Sunday, April 5, in Phoenix at 12:30 p.m. (PT). The NCAA title contest will be nationally televised on ABC, from Mortgage Matchup Center.
Senior Lauren Betts led the Bruins on Friday night with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks through 34 minutes. Betts, the two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, finished the game 7-for-10 from the field and had a significant block with under 21 seconds left in the final quarter and UCLA holding onto a 47-44 lead. She registered her second double-double of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Kiki Rice totaled 11 points, while Gianna Kneepkens and Gabriela Jaquez each finished with 10 points for UCLA.
Texas's Kyla Oldacre was the only player for the Longhorns to score in double figures on Friday, registering 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Texas shot 30.8 percent as a team, going 20-for-65 from the field and 2-for-9 from 3-point distance.
UCLA led 20-17 at halftime and entered the fourth quarter with a 31-28 cushion. The Bruins opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 scoring run over the first 1:30 to lead, 38-28, after a layup on the fast break by Jaquez with 8:33 to play.
The Bruins' fourth-quarter advantage increased to 13 points with 4:36 remaining after a 3-pointer from Kneepkens.
Texas (35-4) battled back against the Bruins, reducing UCLA's advantage to seven points (47-40) with 2:27 remaining and to three points (47-44) at the one-minute mark. Rice drew a foul with 13 seconds left – after the block by Betts on the other end of the court – and sank both free throws to put UCLA on top, 49-44. After a missed shot by Texas, Rice drew another foul and nailed both free throw attempts.
UCLA has advanced to the NCAA championship game after having fallen just short last season. The Bruins lost in the national semifinals to UConn, played in Tampa, Fla.
After having lost to Texas, 76-65, on Nov. 26 earlier this season, UCLA has won its last 30 consecutive games. The Bruins will enter this Sunday's national title showdown with a 36-1 overall record after having won the Big Ten Conference regular-season title (18-0 record) and the league's tournament title (three wins in three days, in Indianapolis).
The Bruins had two empty possessions at the start of the game on Friday, before Charlisse Leger-Walker tracked down a steal and Kneepkens fought for an offensive board on her own miss. The Duluth, Minn., native got a layup to tie the game, 2-2. Betts knocked down a short corner jumper to give UCLA its first lead and Kneepkens splashed a triple to add to the Bruins' cushion.
Betts connected with a turnaround jumper in the paint to give UCLA a 9-4 lead going into the media timeout at the halfway point of the opening quarter.
Angela Dugalic drilled her first shot out of the timeout, hitting a deep three from the right wing. She pushed a bounce pass to a cutting Jaquez for another layup. Texas called timeout as UCLA led the contest, 14-4, with two minutes to play in the first quarter.Tough down Looooooo ??
— UCLA Women's Basketball (@UCLAWBB) April 4, 2026
??: ESPN#GoBruins | @laurenbetts12 pic.twitter.com/poT0vYDj0T
Dugalic and Betts blocked shots on back-to-back Longhorn attempts to prevent a score with under one minute on the game clock. UCLA led by eight going into the second.
Kneepkens stayed patient and lost her defenders for a midrange basket to score first in the second quarter. The Bruins had a three-minute scoring drought, broken by Lauren Betts. She had a fading jump shot to fall from the left short corner.
Jaquez added another two points off a floater, after losing her defender on a screen. The Bruins drew an offensive foul to get the ball back, but came up empty on a 3-point attempt by Kneepkens. UCLA was held to just six points in the second quarter but led, 20-17, at the intermission.
Lauren Betts drew a foul out of halftime, extending UCLa's first possession. Rice took advantage and drove downhill to get her first basket to fall. Lauren Betts disrupted Rori Harmon's pass to then give Rice a steal. The center tracked down a long rebound, took a hard hit from Texas' Madison Booker, and the contact was ruled a common foul. Jaquez flew in for an offensive board after UCLA's next miss, getting back a layup without putting the ball on the floor.
Lauren Betts sealed a smaller defender and hooked a shot in for her fourth make of the game. The center reached around the Longhorns for an offensive rebound on the next trip down and was shoved to draw another foul. The possession turned into a pick-and-roll that got Lauren Betts into double-digit scoring.Keep your foot on the gas, Gabs! ??
— UCLA Women's Basketball (@UCLAWBB) April 4, 2026
??: ESPN#GoBruins | @gabrielarj11 pic.twitter.com/V3UpjKBdQt
Jaquez and Dugalic added three points off free throws before the final break, and UCLA led Texas by a 31-28 margin after three quarters.
Dugalic threw a pass off the backboard that Lauren Betts tracked down. Betts turned a shot attempt into free throws, drawing a foul. Lauren Betts knocked down both. Rice splashed a three off an assist by the center on the next trip down.
Leger-Walker bodied up a Longhorn guard and swiped her second steal of the game. She ran the floor with Jaquez and pushed a pass that the wing finished at the rim. Rice got two more free throws to go after peeling out in transition, catching the Longhorns sleeping after a make.KIKI RIIIIIIC3?3?3?3? ??
— UCLA Women's Basketball (@UCLAWBB) April 4, 2026
??: ESPN#GoBruins | @kiki_rice0 pic.twitter.com/IyhCHO8124
Lauren Betts sealed her defender for advantageous position under the rim and bumped a Longhorn off for the center's sixth basket of the evening. Kneepkens got into double figures with a 3-point make.
Texas made a late run but the Bruin defense held on. Rice nailed four clutch free throws to make it a two-possession game and seal the victory for UCLA.
