LOS ANGELES — UCLA women’s basketball is making a return to the Sweet 16. The Bruins found their stride in the third quarter to put Richmond away 84-67 in their last home game of the season at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday.
Lauren Betts scored a game-high 30 points and pulled down 14 boards. Kiki Rice recorded a career-high four 3-pointers and dished out seven assists in the Bruins’ third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
@haleymsawyer The UCLA women’s basketball team salutes its fans after beating Richmond 84-67 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. #sports #womensbasketball #basketball #ucla #marchmadness #collegebasketball #ncaatournament
UCLA turned the ball over a season-low five times in the game after committing 17 turnovers in its first-round game against Southern.
Top-seeded UCLA will proceed to the Spokane Regional, which is slated for March 28-31 at Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington. The Bruins are in search of their first Final Four appearance after falling to LSU in the Sweet Sixteen last season.
UCLA used an 18-2 scoring run to pull away in the third quarter after being tied with the Spiders at halftime.
The Bruins hit three 3-pointers in a span of roughly two minutes to gain a 55-43 lead with five minutes remaining and went on to shoot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. Londynn Jones banked two of those shots to bring the crowd of 6,119 to a roar loud enough to drown out the game announcer.
They attacked the glass and scored 12 second-chance points in the third while the defense limited Richmond, which earned its first NCAA Tournament win on Friday, to seven points.
Eighth-seeded Richmond owned the No. 5 three-point percentage in the country heading into the game at 38.32% but took an outside-in approach throughout the first half to tie the game at 36-all at the break.
The Spiders scored the majority of their points in the paint yet still made 4 of 7 shots from range at that point. Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Maggie Doogan contributed 16 points in the opening half and finished with a team-high 27 points.
UCLA put together a 7-0 scoring run in the second quarter after trailing 20-18 at the end of the opening frame. Betts, a USBWA First Team All-American, held her ground at center and scored 14 points in the first half while collecting four rebounds on the offensive end despite facing double and triple-teams.
Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year Janiah Barker spent most of the second quarter on the bench with an apparent injury. She had an ice pack at the base of her neck when she went with the team to the locker room at halftime.
Barker had limited minutes for the remainder of the game but the Bruins had built up enough of a cushion in the third quarter to preserve a roughly 20-point lead in the remainder of the game.