![\"Iowa](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773002846_678_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nINDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Gianna Kneepkens scored 19 points and Kiki Rice added 15 points and eight assists Sunday as No. 2 UCLA rolled past No. 9 Iowa 96-45 to win its second straight Big Ten Tournament crown. <\/p>\n
Rice was named the tourney’s Most Outstanding Player.<\/p>\n
It’s the first time the Bruins (31-1) have captured back-to-back postseason conference titles, and it’s also the first time they have won regular-season and league tournament titles in the same season. The Bruins also extended their school-record win streak to 25 games and their Big Ten win streak to 24, dating to last season’s tourney run.<\/p>\n
And they did it with most the lopsided championship-game margin in tournament history, easily surpassing Iowa’s 33-point win over Ohio State in 2023. Five UCLA players scored in double figures, including Sienna Betts \u2014 the younger sister of star center Lauren Betts \u2014 who matched a season high with 14 points. Lauren Betts had 10 points in 24 minutes.<\/p>\n
Ava Heiden scored 15 points for the Hawkeyes (26-6). Addie Deal added 11 points while all-conference forward Hannah Stuelke struggled as she played through a right elbow injury and an illness for the third straight day. Stuelke was scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting and had only three rebounds as Iowa’s eight-game winning streak was snapped.<\/p>\n
The Hawkeyes never looked right after Taylor Stremlow opened the game with a 3-pointer to give them their only lead.<\/p>\n
UCLA answered with 13 consecutive points. The Bruins extended the margin to 22-5 after one quarter and led by 25 in the second before Iowa closed the half with a 3 to get within 42-20. It only got worse for Iowa in the second half.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Iowa guard Taylor Stremlow (1) and UCLA guard Kiki Rice (1) go for a loose ball in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the finals of the Big Ten Conference tournament, Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Indianapolis. Credit: AP\/Michael Conroy<\/p>\n
The Bruins had 34 assists on 40 baskets.<\/p>\n
UCLA\u2019s two-year title reign was preceded by Iowa\u2019s three-peat and Maryland winning two straight. Last weekend, the Bruins became the first Big Ten team to complete a perfect conference season since the Terrapins in 2014-15. Maryland also won the tourney crown that season.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Both teams wait a week for Selection Sunday to find out their women’s NCAA Tournament matchups. UCLA is certain to host the first two rounds, while Iowa could also play at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Gianna Kneepkens scored 19 points and Kiki Rice added 15 points and eight assists Sunday as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,319,217,231,772,1544,2148],"class_list":{"0":"post-647731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college","10":"tag-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab","14":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116195523109282416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}