PHOENIX — History belongs to Cori Close and the UCLA Bruins.
Friday night was the program’s first Final Four win in the NCAA era and on Sunday they capped it off with their first NCAA championship, thrashing the Gamecocks 79–51.
“I really did expect us to win today,” Close said. “I thought about it several times. I’m like ‘We’re gonna win,’ and I felt very peaceful all day … It’s so much for me not about a national championship. It’s the validation that it can be done differently.”
In the modern era, dominated by the transfer portal, Close’s team was an outlier, anchored by a group of seniors—Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts, and Angela Dugalić—who chose to trust the process. Jaquez and Rice spent all four years at UCLA. Betts transferred from Stanford and Dugalić from Oregon following their freshman years.
“We were all just really determined, the core group, to do something UCLA has not done before in the NCAA era,” Jaquez said. “That was really important for us. We always believed. Coach Cori started us with that, just always believing in us … Job’s finished.”
UCLA women’s basketball won its first national championship in 1978, when women’s college sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics. The AIAW was founded in 1971 and was replaced 10 years later when the NCAA began hosting women’s championships in the 1981–82 season.
Denise Curry, Anita Ortega, Ann Meyers Drysdale, and Heidi Nestor led the 1978 team coached by Billie Moore to UCLA’s first AIAW national championship. Ahead of the second quarter Drysdale was honored with other members of the 1976 U.S. women’s olympic basketball team. Standing at center court she lifted up her red, white, and blue USA Basketball polo to reveal a UCLA t-shirt underneath.
“Ann Meyers, Denise Curry, the two people that had their jerseys retired and they have been season ticket holders, text me all the time—I couldn’t be more thankful,” Close said of their presence Sunday.
Sunday’s title win was the first basketball championship for UCLA since the men’s program—led by Ed O’Bannon, who later sued the NCAA in a landmark case—beat Arkansas in 1995.
The Bruins were the top seed last year, but got demolished by UConn 85–51 in the Final Four.
“Being able to turn the pain of regret into the pain of discipline and to then see the chosen pain of discipline pay off in having championship habits today, that’s really rewarding,” Close said.
Jaquez led UCLA with 21 points Sunday afternoon. Betts was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Both were named to the All-Tournament team along with teammate Kiki Rice and South Carolina guards Ta’Niya Latson and Tessa Johnson.
Geno v. Dawn
This was South Carolina’s sixth straight Final Four appearance, and third consecutive championship game. The Gamecocks have won two of the last six NCAA titles and three under Staley.
Last year, South Carolina went 35–4 en route to a 82–59 loss to UConn in the championship game. On Friday, Staley’s team exacted revenge on the Huskies with a stifling defensive performance. UConn coach Geno Auriemma responded to his team’s loss by admonishing Staley in the closing seconds for not participating in a pregame handshake at midcourt, which he said was “protocol” at the Final Four.
Auriemma issued a public apology on Saturday, but noticeably left out Staley’s name.
On the broadcast, Rebecca Lobo—a UConn alum—said Auriemma reached out to Staley personally to apologize. Staley said postgame she had not heard from him but added she has “800 text messages” and one may be from him.
“But let’s keep it UCLA, them winning the national championship,” Staley said. “Again, I will address all of that at another time. It’s not this weekend. We’re not gonna dampen UCLA’s day with it.”
Sunday’s loss leaves Staley one championship shy of joining the game’s greatest coaches—Kim Mulkey (4), Pat Summitt (8), and Auriemma (12)—who all have four titles.
“To get here is hard,” Staley said. “To win here is harder, right? We just have to keep getting here and make adjustments when we don’t win. Obviously we got smacked today. We got to figure out how we smack back and put ourselves in the position where we’re hoisting the trophy at the end of the day.”
