UCLA headed back to Final Four after comeback against Duke

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cori Close put her hands on her hips and allowed herself a minute. She looked out at her UCLA players on the floor. Then she started beaming, soaking it all in.

UCLA is on to the Final Four for the second time in program history, but also the second consecutive year under Close, whose Bruins beat Duke 70-58 on Sunday to win the Sacramento 2 Region at Golden 1 Center. No. 1 seed UCLA will take on the Elite Eight winner of top-seeded Texas and second-seeded Michigan in Phoenix on Friday.

As the confetti fell and her players celebrated, Close wasted no time perching a Final Four hat on her head as she waved to the UCLA faithful.

“In terms of building a program, we’re relatively new on the scene,” she said. ‘I really have no interest in going back.”

Getting to Final Fours isn’t easy. And Duke, especially in the first half, tested the Bruins.

UCLA looked out of sorts in the first half, committing two shot-clock violations and turning over the ball a glaring 12 times. The Bruins struggled with Duke’s swarming defense, which made shots difficult for 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts, who didn’t score her first point until about the 1:20 mark of the first quarter. On defense, meanwhile, the Bruins couldn’t consistently stop Duke, which didn’t seem to care that Betts was in the paint and attacked the Bruins (and their four guards) down low with regularity.

But before the Bruins even got to the locker room at halftime, Close was already workshopping solutions with her two ballhandlers, Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker.

Just two days after Close’s halftime adjustments were the difference in UCLA’s eventual Sweet 16 blowout of Minnesota, the Bruins turned the page in the final 20 minutes of Sunday’s Elite Eight game, too.

“We were gonna take this game, and we weren’t just gonna let things happen anymore,” Betts said. “We were gonna take over. And I think that’s the mentality that we have to have to start with moving forward.”

Betts got far more involved, finishing with 23 points — including 15 in the second half as UCLA asserted itself in transition. With about a minute left and after a tough layup on the left side, she stuck her tongue out toward the UCLA fans as if to start the party early. UCLA’s defense clamped down on Duke’s offense in the second half, too, with the help of some adjustments on ball screens, and forced the Blue Devils to the baseline as much as possible. The Blue Devils scored just eight third-quarter points.

Forward Angela Dugalic gave the Bruins quite the boost with some big-time rebounds and put-backs en route to earning All-Regional honors with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“We just have the mentality of this being a business trip, and I honestly can’t emphasize that enough,” Dugalic said. “What we’ve done in the past, even (Sunday), I cannot emphasize how happy and elated I am. (But Monday) it’s gonna be a new day, and we’re gonna have a new opponent, and that’s our next focus.”

Despite committing 18 turnovers — nearly six more than their average of 12.4 — the Bruins got the job done by scoring 54 points in the paint to Duke’s 32 and outrebounding the Blue Devils 38-26. Betts’ 23 points led all scorers, though Duke guard Taina Mair wasn’t far behind with 21.

As UCLA looks ahead to the Final Four, the Bruins no doubt have some cleaning up to do. Getting those shot-clock violations and turnovers remedied will likely be Close’s top priorities.

“I think that what I said to the team in the locker room after that (first half) was, ‘Hey .. What does this teach us? What do we learn from it? How do we take that experience from the first half to help us be better prepared for the Final Four?’” Close said. “I actually think the first half is going to be really valuable to us.”

At least for Sunday, though, it was all about celebrating and TikTok dances.

“We have a job to do,” Dugalic said of what’s ahead. “And that’s to win a national championship.”