SACRAMENTO — Once again, it wasn’t a blowout from start to finish, but victory also wasn’t much of a question for the UCLA women’s basketball team on Friday.
The Bruins led by five at halftime against Big Ten foe and No. 4 seed Minnesota in a Sweet 16 match at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, but even not playing their best, UCLA was too much for the Golden Gophers to handle in the second half.
UCLA pulled away in the third quarter to take down a scrappy Minnesota squad 80-56 and advance to its second consecutive Elite Eight. Kiki Rice led the Bruins with 21 points and Angela Dugalic nabbed her second double-double of the tournament with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Lauren Betts added 16 points and matched her season high with five blocks.
It was UCLA’s 28th consecutive victory, a streak that dates back to November.
The Gophers’ 38% shooting from the field was their eighth lowest in a game this season and their 56 points were their third fewest this season.
UCLA (34-1) hardly came out hot, but the Gophers (24-9) struggled to do anything in the opening quarter. Minnesota went four minutes without scoring, shooting 0 for 5 with three turnovers.
The Bruins, though, went cold on offense in the second quarter and Minnesota cut it to a three-point game despite committing turnovers and having several shots blocked.
UCLA went 0 for 6 from three-point range in the first half but led 34-29 at the break. Betts and Dugalic combined to hit 10 of 13 shots in the opening half, but the rest of the Bruins went six of 23.
Minnesota didn’t score for the first 4:40 of the second half, giving the Bruins room to expand their lead. The Gophers were stopped on consecutive shot-clock violations out of a timeout while UCLA went up 40-29.
The UCLA defense sealed the game, holding Minnesota to 33.3% shooting in the second half.
On a night where one of their best offensive weapons was off, that was key. UCLA, whose 37.5% from three-point range is sixth in the NCAA, went four of 15 from deep.
UCLA beat Minnesota 76-58 in January during Big Ten play. The Gophers advanced to the Sweet 16 last week off an Amaya Battle buzzer-beater against No. 5 seed Mississippi.
UCLA will face the winner of No. 2 seed Louisiana State (29-5) versus No. 3 seed Duke (26-8) on Sunday.
The post UCLA women surge in second half to defeat Minnesota and advance to Elite Eight appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
