By Myrtle Davies
4 4 2025
GAME NOTES
https://uconnathletics.box.com/s/dialqww7finvxjcg8pgondypjonsmrv2
TAMPA, Fla. – The second-seeded and third-ranked UConn women’s basketball team (35-3) takes on No. 1 overall seeded and ranked UCLA (34-2) in the NCAA Tournament Final Four in Amalie Arena at 9:30 p.m. on Friday. The game will air on ESPN, Westwood One and the UConn Sports Network from Learfield (FOX Sports 97-9).
The Bird & Taurasi Show, an alternate cast of the game featuring UConn alums Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, returns to the Final Four this season on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
This is UConn’s 36th overall and straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, dating back to the 1988-89 season. UConn is 140-24 overall in the NCAA Tournament, which is the winningest record in the sport. The Huskies have advanced to the NCAA Final Four for a record 24th time. UConn is 12-11 all-time in the Final Four.
Redshirt senior Paige Bueckers had 31 points, six assists and four steals to lead UConn past No. 1 seed USC, 78-64, to win the Spokane 4 Region. Freshman Sarah Strong had 22 points and 17 rebounds for her third double-double of the NCAA Tournament. Bueckers was named the region’s Most Outstanding Player while Strong was named to the All-Tournament Team.
UConn is 7-1 all-time vs. UCLA, including 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament. The teams last faced off in the 2023 Cayman Islands Classic, which UCLA won, 78-67. Paige Bueckers led the Huskies in the game with 31 points.
Graduate student Kaitlyn Chen faced UCLA in Nov. 2023 when she was at Princeton. Chen scored 24 points in a 77-74 loss to the Bruins.
UCLA advanced to its first Final Four in program history with a 72-65 win over No. 3 seed LSU. This season, Lauren Betts leads the Bruins with 20.0 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Head coach Cori Close is in her 14th season at UCLA.
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UCLA GAME NOTES
https://uclabruins.com/documents/2025/4/2/Game_37_NCAA_Final_Four_No._2_UConn__April_4_.pdf
TAMPA, Fla. – No. 1-seeded UCLA Women’s Basketball (34-2) is in Tampa, Fla., for its first-ever NCAA Final Four and returns to the national semifinal game for the first time since 1979.
The Bruins take on No. 2-seed UConn (35-3) Friday at Alamie Arena; the game is set to tip off at approximately 6:30 p.m. PT, 30 minutes after the first game concludes.
UConn freshman Sarah Strong amassed 22 points (4-6 3FG) and 17 rebounds in the Huskies’ Elite Eight win over No. 1-seed USC; senior Page Bueckers had 31 points in the win over the Trojans. Bueckers has scored 30+ points in three-consecutive games.
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Amalie Arena
Location: Tampa, Fla.
Tip-off Time: 6:30 p.m. PT
TV:ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN+
TV Talent: Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe
Radio: UCLA Digital Radio; Westwood One (SiriusXM 84)
Radio Talent: Dave Marcus (UCLA); Ryan Radtke, Debbie Antonelli and Ros Gold-Onwude (Westwood One)
MATCHUP HISTORY: vs. UConn Huskies
• UCLA claimed its first-ever victory over UConn in November 2023 when the Bruins and Huskies faced off in the Cayman Islands (W, 78-67). Then-sophomore Kiki Rice had 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in the victory in the Caymans. The Bruins are 1-7 all-time against UConn after last season’s win.
• The Bruins are 0-2 against the Huskies in the postseason; UCLA and UConn last met on March 29, 2019 in the Sweet 16 when the Huskies bested the Bruins 69-61.
LAST TIME OUT: W, 72-65 vs. No. 3-Seed LSU (Sunday, March 30)
• Juniors Timea Gardiner and Gabriela Jaquez were unconcious from long range against the third-seeded LSU Tigers. The duo combined to shoot 9-of-13 from 3-point land; Jaquez nailed a 4Q dagger off an assist from the paint (4-5 4FG).
• Junior Lauren Betts totaled 17 PTS, 7 REB and 6 BLK despite sitting the entire second quarter after a pair of 1Q fouls.
• Betts was named Most Outstanding Player for the Spokane 1 Region and was joined on the All-Region Team by Jaquez and Kiki Rice.
46 YEARS LATER… UCLA RETURNS TO THE NATIONAL SEMIFINAL
• While this will be UCLA’s first “NCAA” Final Four, the Bruin history books remember its time in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) prior to the NCAA’s 1982 adoption and sponsorship of women’s basketball.
• The Bruins made back-to-back trips to the national semifinal game in 1978 and 1979; UCLA captured the AIAW title in ’78.
• The 1978 championship team was headlined by Denise Curry and Ann Meyers-Drysdale, UCLA’s only retired numbers on the women’s basketball side (12 and 15, respectively). Curry went on to score 3,198 points in her career (before the 3-point line was implemented in 1987-88) and amassed 1,310 rebounds in four years as a Bruin (10.1 RPG). Meyers-Drysdale was the first woman to earn a full scholarship at UCLA and went on to become the first four-time women’s basketball All-American.
WHAT’S BRUIN
• Five Bruins earned B1G postseason honors, as announced by the league office on Tuesday, March 4. Lauren Betts was named the unanimous Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year by the coaches and made the cut for All-Big Ten First Team and All-Defensive Team. She was joined by Kiki Rice on the All-Big Ten First Team; Rice was also UCLA’s B1G Sportsmanship Honoree. Junior Janiah Barker was named the league’s Sixth Player of the Year by coaches and media. Gabriela Jaquez (media) and Londynn Jones (coaches) were tabbed as All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.
• Betts was named First Team All-America by the Associated Press, marking the first time a Bruin has collected that honor in program history. She was named USBWA First Team All-America, joining Natalie Williams (1993, 1994) as a first teamer from Westwood. Rice was also named AP All-America Honorable Mention on Wednesday, March 19.
• Betts named the 2025 Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on April 2. She was also named to the John R. Wooden Award Women’s All America Team and is in the Wooden Award Top 5.
• Coach Cori Close was named USBWA Coach of the Year on Thursday, March 20, and will be named 2025 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year on Wednesday, April 2. Coach Tony Newnan was named WBCA NCAA DI Assistant Coach of the Year on Wednesday, March 26.
• The Bruins have four players averaging 5+ RPG: Betts (9.6 RPG, 318 REB), Barker (6.0 RPG, 210 REB), Dugalic (5.7 RPG, 193 REB) and Jaquez (5.2 RPG, 183 REB); and seven players averaging 7+ PPG: Betts (20.0), Rice (12.9), Jaquez (9.9), Jones (8.7), Gardiner (7.7), Barker (7.5) and Dugalic (7.4).
• The Bruins are among the top five in the Big Ten in A/TO ratio (2nd – 1.35), blocks (2nd – 5.4 BPG), offensive boards (3rd – 13.6 ORPG), 3FG defense (3rd – .290 3FG%), scoring offense (3rd – 78.7 PPG) and scoring margin (2nd – +20.8).
• The Bruins have led wire-to-wire in 17 of the 34 wins and have claimed 12 ranked victories this season. All but five wins have been by 10+ points this year (vs. Louisville, Michigan State, at Iowa, vs. USC, vs. LSU).
• UCLA won 23-straight games – 22 were by a double-digit margin – setting the longest streak for both records in program history. UCLA’s previous-best win streak came in the 1977-78 championship campaign (21 games).
• With a win on Friday, the Bruins will set a Big Ten record for total wins in season (current: 34 W, 4 times).
• The Bruins boast 9 McDonald’s All Americans on the roster: Janiah Barker, Lauren Betts, Kendall Dudley, Angela Dugalic, Timea Gardiner, Gabriela Jaquez, Amanda Muse, Kiki Rice, and Zania Socka-Nguemen. Jaquez and Rice shared co-MVP honors, and Londynn Jones – while not a McDAAG participant – placed second in the high school three-point contest in 2022.
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