SPOKANE, Wash. — UCLA coach Cori Close basked in confetti at midcourt Sunday afternoon after her Bruins defeated LSU 72-65. While UCLA had been the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament, its path to the program’s first Final Four had not been easy.
In the second round, mid-major darling Richmond hung with the Bruins early. The same happened in the Sweet 16 as defensive-minded Ole Miss hung in. The difficulty level increased even further against LSU, which was in its third consecutive Elite Eight appearance.
With 6-foot-7 All-American center Lauren Betts getting into early foul trouble, the Bruins needed to turn to their depth — which Close employs early and often with heavy substitution — to finish the job against the Tigers.
“We had to choose the four letters across the front of our jerseys and not care about the back,” Close said.
While this is the first NCAA Final Four appearance for the Bruins, the program did advance to the AIAW Final Four twice, winning the tournament in 1979. However, during the modern era, UCLA had never been able to establish that kind of dominance, advancing to the Elite Eight twice (1999 and 2018) before this season but never going further.
The Bruins punched their ticket with a full-team performance, which is both rare and…
