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andrea adelson
multiple authors
PHOENIX — It was for coach Corey Close and Lauren Bates And all the current players are wearing UCLA On their jersey.
But it was also for Ann Meyers Drysdale and Dennis Curry and John Wooden and every Bruin who strove for what would become the first NCAA championship in UCLA women’s basketball history.
Bruins beat South Carolina 79-51 Sunday in the national title game, and they did it the same way they’ve won all season — with an impressive interior presence, a selfless offensive approach and a suffocating defense that handed the Gamecocks their second-worst loss in NCAA Tournament history.
The 28-point margin of victory was the third largest in a Division I women’s championship final.
“It’s more than I could have asked or imagined,” Close said. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
UCLA never trailed, leading by double digits at the end of the first quarter to earn its history-making 31st consecutive win. Bates was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player after the game.
In his 15th season, Close has done what many didn’t believe was possible at one of the most storied basketball programs in the country. UCLA last won a national title in women’s basketball in the AIAW in 1978, when Meyers Drysdale and Curry led the way. Wooden won 10 titles with the men’s team and set a standard that other coaches on the Los Angeles campus wanted to follow.
Indeed, as a 22-year-old assistant at UCLA, Close began a deep relationship with Wooden. She became the head coach at UCLA the year after Wooden’s death, and she credits him with helping her become the coach she is today.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh my God, I don’t want to let him down,'” Close said, crying. “The biggest way I can pay it forward is to live in a way and coach and teach in a way that carries forward what he did for me.”
With all those lessons learned, Close guided a team on a mission on Sunday — to avenge a poor performance in the Final Four a year ago. This group full of senior players was determined to become the first team to win that elusive NCAA Championship.
With the presence of Meyers Drysdale, UCLA executed its game plan early on and fed Bates inside immediately. Klose talked about his team being overly reactive after a two-point loss in the national semi-finals last year. It was the opposite in the national title game this year.
“I was really hoping we would win today,” Close said. “I thought about it a few times. I thought, ‘We’re going to win.’ I felt very peaceful the whole day. It wasn’t about whether we got the W or not. I wanted us to be able to play our best when our best is needed. “We implemented that.”
The Bruins were aggressive, using their size to get into the paint while converting shot after shot on defense.
“The confidence we had when we came out on the field, we knew we were going to win,” Bates said.
UCLA had five players finish in double figures. Bates had 14 points and 11 rebounds, but it was the UCLA senior gabriela jacquez Which was perhaps most impressive – because she not only found open shots but also fed her teammates and got in for rebound after rebound.
Jacquez, who has played his entire college career at UCLA, produced 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a performance that won’t soon be forgotten. For a player who grew up dreaming of playing at UCLA, with his older brother Jaime Jr. competing for a national title with the men’s team in 2021, the championship was especially meaningful. Even more so with Jaime, who now plays for the NBA Miami HeatTaking a flight to join his parents, younger brother and other family members in Phoenix.
“My dream was to be at UCLA,” Gabriela Jacquez said. “I had tears in my eyes when Coach Corey made me the offer. We, the core group, were determined to do something that UCLA had not done before in the NCAA era. It was important to us. We always believed. We always believed. The work is finished.”
At the end of the first half, UCLA had the advantage on the rebound and defeated South Carolina 20–12. Six UCLA players – all seniors – scored in the first half, each making at least two field goals. South Carolina changed its defensive approach and began to apply pressure, but UCLA figured it out as well and took a 36–23 lead at the break.
Meanwhile, South Carolina scored 9 out of 35 — Joyce Edwards Was 1 out of 6 with two points. This was the Gamecocks’ worst field goal percentage in any half of a game since December 2022, when they shot 26% in the first half against South Dakota State. He finished the game shooting 29%.
Their three best players–Edwards, Tania Latson And raven johnson – Finished with a combined 15 points on 5-of-22 shooting. South Carolina became the first team to lose by at least 15 points in consecutive national championship games.
“We felt like crying. We weren’t beaten. We felt like crying,” Johnson said.
UCLA started the second half with a 12–3 run and the championship rout continued. The Bruins became the eighth team in the last 30 years to win their first national championship, while Close became the longest-tenured head coach at a single school to win their long-awaited first NCAA championship.
UCLA athletic director Martin Germond said, “I’ve been here six years and in our conversations about what’s going to happen, he always believed that the outcome would be if the work and the focus and the team and the right pieces come together and that’s what happened with this team.”
After cutting the net, Bates and Close entered the stands and hugged former players, family members, UCLA staff and others who helped the Bruins reach this moment. Bates and former teammates Camryn Brown and Izzy Anstey hugged and cried.
Close, always eager to focus on others rather than herself, credited everyone for this – from the 1978 team to Wooden to all the players and assistants. As soon as she finished the hug, Close turned to the UCLA group still in their seats, raised her arms and said, “We did it!”
