UCLA had the same opportunity eight days ago: Beat the crosstown rival and win a Big Ten title.
The Bruins couldn’t get the job done in the regular-season finale, but they weren’t denied a second time. After trailing by 13 during the third quarter, UCLA roared back to defeat USC for the first time this season, winning 72-67 and earning the conference tournament crown in its first year in the Big Ten.
It is the first championship for coach Cori Close and the first conference tournament title for the program since 2006. The Bruins will assuredly earn a No. 1 seed in the Spokane region and could be the top overall seed for the first time in school history.
Lauren Betts was the key to the second-half turnaround, as the tournament’s most outstanding player finally had her moment against the Trojans. Betts was more decisive in the post and more confident on the move than in previous matchups; she had 13 second-half points on perfect shooting from the field and added three blocks, two of them coming on JuJu Watkins.
DENIAL IS A RIVER 🚫
📺: CBS#GoBruins | @laurenbetts12 pic.twitter.com/RUCMqIKDlR
— UCLA Women’s Basketball (@UCLAWBB) March 9, 2025
Betts and the rest of the upperclassmen were adamant they had learned from their mistakes from the regular-season meetings, and…
