Lauren Betts Leads UCLA to 78-60 Win Over Washington, Extends Streak to 23 Games
Lauren Betts scored 26 points and the No. 2 Bruins rallied from an early deficit to beat Washington 78-60, advancing to the Big Ten tournament semifinals and extending their win streak to 23 games. The victory preserved UCLA’s unblemished 19-0 conference record and sets up a semifinal meeting with Ohio State.
Lauren Betts' 26-point performance
Betts finished 13-for-20 from the floor and pulled down eight rebounds, converting the single coverage she often faced into consistent scoring throughout the contest. She said she came prepared to be aggressive and to do whatever the team needed; her efficiency was the clearest example. UCLA leaned on her presence in the paint after falling behind early, and her scoring accounted for a decisive portion of the Bruins’ output against Washington.
Cori Close timeout sparks 15-point run
With 6: 26 remaining in the second quarter, coach Cori Close called a timeout that immediately changed the game’s momentum. UCLA scored the next 15 points and took a lead into halftime after the Huskies had pushed out to a 10-point advantage earlier in the period. Washington was held to two points over the final 6½ minutes of the half, a defensive stretch that allowed the Bruins to flip a stalled first-quarter performance into control by intermission.
The sequence followed a sluggish opening for UCLA, which managed just six points in the first quarter and missed five straight shots in a drought that included turnovers. The timeout and the subsequent surge illustrate clear cause and effect: the coach’s intervention produced a focused offensive stretch that erased Washington’s lead and delivered the halftime advantage the Bruins needed.
UCLA prepares for Big Ten semifinal with Ohio State
The win improved UCLA’s streak to 23 consecutive victories and left the Bruins unbeaten in conference play at 19-0. They will face Ohio State in the tournament semifinals at 11 a. m. PST on Saturday. Kiki Rice provided a complementary scoring and playmaking presence, finishing with 18 points and six assists; her three-pointer at the 5: 27 mark of the third quarter was UCLA’s first made three of the game.
Washington finished the season 21-10 overall and 11-9 in conference play. The Huskies had advanced to meet UCLA after beating USC in the previous round, but could not counter the Bruins’ second-half control and trailed by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter. Guard Avery Howell led Washington with 18 points, but the team could not find an answer during the Bruins’ decisive run.
Offensively, UCLA shot 54 percent for the game but struggled from long range early, tying its season-low performance from deep by going one for 10 on three-pointers. Still, the Bruins’ balanced attack and interior dominance carried them through; the team’s season-long margin of victory—an average of 28. 3 points—remains one of the nation’s best and underscores how often late-game adjustments are more about preservation than comeback.
What makes this notable is how quickly a single strategic timeout reshaped a game that had briefly put the Bruins on their heels: the coaching adjustment produced a 15-point swing that both halted Washington’s momentum and gave UCLA an opportunity to play to its strengths. The timing matters because it preserved a nearly three-month unbeaten run that began after the team’s lone loss of the season, and because it kept the Bruins on track to contend for the conference tournament title.
Head coach Cori Close acknowledged the team’s slow start and the need for immediate correction, while guard Gabriela Jaquez noted attention to fundamentals as critical for moving forward. With the semifinal against Ohio State looming, UCLA will try to convert the late-game lessons from this quarterfinal into consistent execution in the next round.
