SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) 鈥� When the final buzzer sounded on UCLA鈥檚 80-56 regional semifinal win over Minnesota in the women鈥檚 , the Bruins gathered on the court, put their hands in the air and broke the huddle without fanfare.
Calm, collected and not finished, these Bruins intend for to extend into April.
Led by Kiki Rice鈥檚 21 points and a 16-point, five-block performance by star Lauren Betts, the top-seeded Bruins advanced to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row and will face Duke on Sunday.
Even winning the next one isn鈥檛 going to satisfy UCLA. The Big Ten champion Bruins are playing for more, and on Friday night, they looked like it.
鈥淲e found another way to go 1-0,鈥� coach Cori Close said.
Leading for more than 38 minutes of this game, UCLA (34-1) shook off an upstart Gophers team that pulled within 30-27 in the closing minutes of the second quarter as they tried to slow the game down and limit Betts鈥� touches. The Bruins led 34-29 at the half.
UCLA opened the second half with an 8-0 run, and Minnesota never got within single digits again.
The Gophers were in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2025. They were led by Grace Grocholski with 12 points, and Sophie Hart added 11.
Coach Dawn Plitzuweit said she was proud of a team that put the Minnesota program back on the national map.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really cool to reach the Sweet 16, but I鈥檓 hoping this becomes the standard,鈥� said Gophers senior Amaya Battle. 鈥淚t feels nice to do this, but we should be doing this every year.鈥�
Friday鈥檚 game was a rematch of a Big Ten matchup that UCLA won . Rice scored 25 points in that game, and on Friday, she went 7 of 12 from the floor and hit all six of her free throws.
鈥淚 felt like we had good matchups and good looks,鈥� Rice said. 鈥淲hen teams commit so much to our players inside, it opens up driving lanes. Teams are going to have to choose how they defend us.鈥�
Indeed, the Bruins are creating trouble for their tournament foes, scoring at least 50 points in the paint in their three wins. It was an insurance policy against a less-than-stellar night from the perimeter, in which UCLA was 4 of 16 from beyond the arc.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 one of our best offensive games. We missed nine layups in a row at one point. But we didn鈥檛 let missed shots dictate our defensive intensity,鈥� Close said.
The Bruins held Minnesota to 37.9% shooting, blocked nine shots and forced 15 turnovers to hold the Gophers to their third-lowest scoring total of the season.
鈥淲e just took care of the things that were under our control, and I think we can play better,鈥� Close said.
Any celebrations on hold for UCLA
Better will be indeed required for a team that reached its first Final Four a season ago, but left after a 34-point loss in the national semifinals to eventual champion UConn.
鈥淚t鈥檚 March and we are really trying to focus on what鈥檚 next,鈥� Betts said. 鈥淲e have been approaching this very businesslike. We learned a lot from last year about not being happy with how far we get. We want to win it all. We will do our celebrating for this win, but we鈥檝e got to focus on the next one.鈥�
Up next
UCLA advanced to a regional final for the second straight season. The Bruins beat Duke earlier this season.
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