{"id":697343,"date":"2026-04-04T06:01:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/697343\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T06:01:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:01:21","slug":"ucla-womens-basketball-heads-to-national-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/697343\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA women\u2019s basketball heads to national championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The UCLA women\u2019s basketball team is headed to the NCAA championship game for the first time in its history after defeating the Texas Longhorns 51-44 in their Final Four matchup on Friday night in Phoenix. <\/p>\n<p>\u25ba\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/uclabruins.com\/news\/2026\/4\/3\/womens-basketball-outlasts-texas-advances-to-national-title-game\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read about the game on the UCLA Athletics website<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just wanted to win it so bad for this team,\u201d senior center Lauren Betts told ESPN\u2019s Holly Rowe after the game. \u201cWe work so hard. It\u2019s just execution; when you work so hard and you\u2019re consistent every day and the coaches hold the standard, great things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Westwood, hundreds of fans gathered to root on the No. 1\u2013seed Bruins (36-1) at a free watch party in UCLA\u2019s Pauley Pavilion. They cheered every moment, joined by members of UCLA\u2019s band, spirit squad and Josie Bruin. The game was tense and physical with No. 1\u2013seed Texas \u2014 the only team to beat UCLA during the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>National championship game:\u00a0Fans are again invited to watch the game for free at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday. Doors open at noon; play\u00a0begins at 12:30 p.m. (<a href=\"https:\/\/ucla.evenue.net\/event\/WBB25\/3449\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here to RSVP<\/a>) <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"lightbox-toggle\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ucla.edu\/file?fid=69d0972f2cfac2191464745c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"bear\" class=\"d-inline-block w-100 figure-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/bear.jpg\"\/> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ron Mackovich-Rodriguez\/UCLA Newsroom<\/p>\n<p>Joe\u00a0Bruin with a fan\u00a0at the women&#8217;s basketball Final Four Pauley Pavilion watch party on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"lightbox-toggle\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ucla.edu\/file?fid=69d0960f2cfac21914646c43\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pauley\" class=\"d-inline-block w-100 figure-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Pauley.jpg\"\/> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ron Mackovich-Rodriguez\/UCLA NewsroomFans cheer on the UCLA women&#8217;s basketball team at the Pauley Pavilion watch party on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Fans cheer on the UCLA women&#8217;s basketball team at the Pauley Pavilion watch party on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"lightbox-toggle\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ucla.edu\/file?fid=69d097362cfac21914647478\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"band\" class=\"d-inline-block w-100 figure-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/band.jpg\"\/> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ron Mackovich-Rodriguez\/UCLA Newsroom<\/p>\n<p>Members of the UCLA band perform at the Final Four watch party at Pauley Pavilion on April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"lightbox-toggle\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ucla.edu\/file?fid=69d0961d2cfac21916f5ec23\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Spirit\" class=\"d-inline-block w-100 figure-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Spirit.jpg\"\/> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ron Mackovich-Rodriguez\/UCLA Newsroom<\/p>\n<p>Members of the UCLA spirit squad help cheer on the Bruins\u00a0at the women&#8217;s basketball Final Four Pauley Pavilion watch party on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"lightbox-toggle\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ucla.edu\/file?fid=69d0960b2cfac219118567bb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"media\" class=\"d-inline-block w-100 figure-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/media.jpg\"\/> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ron Mackovich-Rodriguez\/UCLA Newsroom<\/p>\n<p>UCLA women&#8217;s basketball supporters speak to KABC7 at the Pauley Pavilion watch party on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"lightbox-toggle\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ucla.edu\/file?fid=69d096182cfac21912b61d0f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"pawsup\" class=\"d-inline-block w-100 figure-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pawsup.jpg\"\/> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ron Mackovich-Rodriguez\/UCLA Newsroom<\/p>\n<p>Fans cheer on the UCLA women&#8217;s basketball team at the Pauley Pavilion watch party on Friday, April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 Previous\u00a0 Next<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the sport I thought I was coaching,\u201d UCLA head coach Cori Close told ESPN\u2019s Scot Van Pelt after the win. \u201cI think it was more rugby than it was basketball. I wanted to apologize to all the fans that we couldn\u2019t give them a cleaner game \u2014 with 23 turnovers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Sunday\u2019s title game, UCLA will face the South Carolina Gamecocks, who defeated the University of Connecticut earlier in the evening. While the Bruins celebrated tonight\u2019s win, the team must quickly shift focus and get ready for that final matchup.<\/p>\n<p>Close said the opportunity to play one more game\u00a0is something they plan to take full advantage of.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that\u2019s what they\u2019ve been doing the entire time \u2026 fighting for 40 more minutes. And now that there\u2019s just 40 minutes left, man, we got to make the most of them,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>While this is UCLA\u2019s first time playing for the NCAA championship, it\u2019s not their first national title contest. The Bruins won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ucla.edu\/magazine\/championship-season-1978-1979-women-basketball#:~:text=It%20was%20a%20story%20too,on%20the%20hardwood%20that%20night.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">National Basketball Championship in 1978.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Betts said she\u2019s full of joy following the win and heading into the championship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love these girls, and one thing about us is we\u2019re always going to work together. We just earned another day with each other, and we\u2019re so happy,\u201d she said. \u201cI love these girls. We\u2019re trying to go 1-0. We\u2019re here to win. I\u2019m just so proud of everybody. This group is amazing. I love my team so much.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UCLA women\u2019s basketball team is headed to the NCAA championship game for the first time in its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[1583,7,10046],"class_list":{"0":"post-697343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-students"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116344919896542936","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697343","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=697343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}