INDIANAPOLIS — They stormed from the bench to mob one another at midcourt, streamers and confetti falling from the rafters.
Finally, after so much had gone wrong against their rivals in two defeats during the regular season, the UCLA Bruins mustered the ultimate rebuttal.
They are the Big Ten tournament champions.
The Bruins happily put on championship hats, tears flowing amid the smiles as they celebrated a come-from-behind 72-67 victory over USC in the title game Sunday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
It was UCLA’s first tournament championship since it won the Pac-10 title in 2006 after the second-seeded Bruins outscored the top-seeded Trojans 37-22 in the second half.
Once trailing by 13 points early in the third quarter, UCLA (30-2) put the clamps on JuJu Watkins after the Bruins stopped repeatedly fouling her. The USC star had 18 of her 29 points in the first half, making only four of 15 shots in the second half.
Meanwhile, Lauren Betts made plenty of big plays in the final minutes, swatting a Watkins shot and powering through a double team for a layup that put UCLA up 66-60. Betts finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four blocks on the way to earning the tournament’s most outstanding player award as UCLA band members serenaded her by chanting her name.
Kiki Rice and Londyyn Jones added 13 points apiece for the Bruins.
Watkins passed Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, for the second-most points scored through their first two college seasons. Watkins’ 1,684 points trails only Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell (1,762), with as many as six games left to catch Mitchell.
That will serve as little consolation given how her team folded.
Once UCLA stopped fouling Watkins, she fell into an offensive funk. The Bruins used a 16-2 surge spanning the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth to take a 58-54 lead after Rice grabbed the rebound on her own miss for a putback.
The UCLA fans behind the team bench were standing and cheering at the end of a third quarter that the Bruins finished with a flurry to pull within 54-52. A Timea Gardiner three-pointer sparked a 10-2 run that also included five points from Betts on a jump hook in which she was fouled, and a midrange jumper.
The novelty of two teams from Los Angeles meeting halfway across the country to decide the champion of a league with Midwestern roots was on display inside an arena usually packed with Nebraska red and Iowa black.
A little more than a half hour before the game, the Bruins might have felt at home as their student band conducted a pregame roll call. A few minutes later, directly across the court, the USC band played “Conquest,” with their counterparts from UCLA adding their own spin at the end by yelling, “Go Bruins!”
USC was in a celebratory mood at halftime given the sequence that ended the second quarter. Clarice Akunwafo blocked a jumper by Elina Aarnisalo, triggering a fast break that ended with Kennedy Smith zipping a pass from under the basket to Avery Howell, who rose for a three-pointer that increased her team’s lead to 45-35.
Trojans players flapped towels in appreciation on the bench before storming onto the court to mob their teammates. Watkins had fueled her team’s double-digit lead with 18 points, partially on the strength of making seven of eight free throws.
Across the court, UCLA was left to contemplate what was needed for a comeback. Betts had only scored four points, making two of five shots, and forward Gabriela Jaquez had been a non-factor with two points in seven minutes after early foul trouble.
Things were intense from the opening jump ball, which resulted in another jump ball only three seconds later after Jaquez and Smith fought for a loose ball. They stepped toward center court for the do-over that went in the Trojans’ favor.
The Bruins surged into an early 11-5 lead after Jones buried a three-pointer from the wing while falling down, but USC countered with 12 points in lickety-split fashion. Watkins followed a jumper with a three-pointer before Malia Samuels made a diving steal before passing to Kiki Iriafen for a driving layup. Wakins followed with a driving layup past Jones and Samuels concluded the run with a three-pointer.
Compounding matters for the Bruins, Jaquez was already on the bench after having picked up two fouls less than three minutes into the game. UCLA was within 36-35 after a Betts offensive rebound led to a Jones three-pointer. But USC rolled off the final nine points before halftime, including six from Watkins.
It wasn’t long before things would start trending heavily in the Bruins’ favor.
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