PHOENIX – With a postseason format as volatile as the NCAA Tournament, there are inevitably some years where the best team in the country over the course of a given season doesn’t win the national championship.
(Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
That’s not the case this season. UCLA, which was still somehow overlooked entering the dance as the No. 2 overall seed, finished its 37-win tour-de-force with an overwhelming win over South Carolina, 79-51, in Sunday’s national title game. It was yet another dominant effort from UCLA’s senior class, which scored every point for the team in the Final Four. All five senior starters scored in double figures, while senior sixth-player Angela Dugalić tallied nine points.
UNIVERSITY OF CHAMPIONS, LOS ANGELES
UCLA TAKES DOWN SOUTH CAROLINA TO WIN THE WOMEN’S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! pic.twitter.com/P36bwyRAC6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 5, 2026
Gabriela Jaquez was the star of the bunch in the title game, tallying 21 points in addition to 10 rebounds and five assists. Lauren Betts earned Tournament MOP honors for the Bruins after posting 14 points and 11 rebounds on Sunday and 16 points and 11 rebounds against Texas in the Final Four on Friday.
Super Seniors
It’s the crowning achievement for a class of seniors that took UCLA from a WNIT semifinalist the season before their arrival to the program’s first-ever women’s NCAA basketball championship as they depart. Ann Meyers, Denise Curry, and company delivered the university its AIAW title in 1978, but the NCAA era had previously been sparse for the Bruins amid longtime dominance from programs like Louisiana Tech, Tennessee, UConn, Stanford, Notre Dame, and Baylor.
The seniors on UCLA scored EVERY SINGLE POINT for the Bruins in the Final Four
31 PTS – Gabriela Jaquez
30 PTS – Lauren Betts
25 PTS – Gianna Kneepkens
21 PTS – Kiki Rice
13 PTS – Angela Dugalic
10 PTS – Charlisse Leger-Walker pic.twitter.com/0glTjermo3
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 5, 2026
After boosting an already loaded group of returning seniors with transfer portal additions Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker, it was clear going into the season that this was the best chance to win a national title in school history. And as great of a program builder as coach Cori Close has proven to be, you can’t guarantee that you’ll ever get back to this stage once this transformational group of seniors leaves.
Bonded Forever
While the finality of a senior season with so much riding on it understandably brought pressure, UCLA managed it with overwhelming positivity. Camaraderie is an imperfect ingredient in determining how successful a team will become, but this team was proof that the right amount of it can yield magical results.
“I think that’s why we’re able to show up and do what we do all the time,” Betts said. “You can still show up and do your job and be serious and compete, but there is like a long journey that we’ve been on together. I think you can find the fun in all of it. We’re such a close group of girls, I’m going to miss them so much.”
In an era of college sports that seems as professional and disconnected from the college community as ever, this team made themselves pillars in the Westwood community and brought an enormous amount of joy to the campus throughout their tenure.
Whether it’s collecting recycling from games and practices to donate the money to charity or their postgame dance parties, there’s a special bond between all of these Bruins, and that extends outward into the fanbase and student body.
“Basketball is definitely the priority, but it’s also, like, it’s a priority to grow as a woman,” Jaquez said. “I can definitely say I’ve grown so much, and I wouldn’t be who I am without my four years at UCLA. And we do a lot, you know, we give back to the community a lot. We do a lot of community service, we recycle, and I think it just is a good thing to do, because it gives you a lot of gratitude for what you have.”
The post Camaraderie Was The Key Ingredient In UCLA’s NCAA Title Run appeared first on Ballislife.com.
