UCLA tops Texas to avenge only loss, will play for 1st title

PHOENIX -- Lauren Betts had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and her key blocked shot with 18.1 seconds remaining helped UCLA avenge its only loss of the season on the biggest stage in a 51-44 victory over Texas in a NCAA Women's Final Four semifinal on Friday.

Kiki Rice had 11 points and Gabriela Jaquez and Giana Kneepkens had 10 apiece for the Bruins (36-1), who won their 30th straight and will play for their first NCAA title against fellow No. 1 seed South Carolina on Sunday.

Betts had her 14th double-double of the season and doubled her point total from the first meeting, when she had eight points and seven rebounds in a 76-65 loss to Texas in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas on Nov. 26. She averages 17.2 points a game.

Kyla Oldacre had 11 points and was the Longhorns' only-double digit scorer on a night they shot only 30.8% from the field.

Leading scorer Madison Booker (19.3 ppg) scored only six points and was 3 of 23 from the field.

Betts took its largest lead at 42-30 with six minutes left, and her jumper with three minutes left kept the lead at 10 (47-37) before Texas closed.

The Longhorns scored seven straight points capped by Jordan Lee's driving layup to make it 47-44 with 1:02 left before Betts blocked Booker's driving layup with 18.1 seconds to play.

Rice made four free throws around a Texas missed shot in the last 13.3 seconds for the final margin.

Rori Harmon had eight points, five assists, five rebounds and four steals for the Longhorns (35-4), who had won 12 in a row. Harmon was 4 of 11 from the floor.

Booker made the first field goal of the game 37 seconds in and did not score again until her jumper with 5:48 left in the fourth cut the Bruins' lead to 42-32.

The Longhorns had held their previous NCAA Tournament opponents to an average of 49.5 points per game and had outscored them by an average of 35.5 points.

Neither team shot well in a lethargic first half, which ended with UCLA leading 20-17. Texas was 8 of 32 from the field and the Bruins were 9 of 24.

Texas did not break 20 points until Oldacre made a layup with 5:54 remaining in the third quarter.

--Jack McGruder, Field Level Media