LSU fell 1 win shy of its second women’s Final Four appearance in 3 years, losing to No. 1 overall seed UCLA, 72-65, in Sunday’s regional final in Spokane, Wash.
Lauren Betts had 17 points and 7 rebounds, propelling the Bruins to the first Final Four in program history. The 6-foot-7 Betts added 6 blocks for UCLA (34-2), which will head to Tampa, Fla., for Friday’s national semifinals and face the winner of Monday night’s regional final between rival USC and UConn.
South Carolina advanced to the Final Four earlier on Sunday with a win over Duke.
Gabriela Jaquez added 18 points and 8 rebounds for UCLA, and Timea Gardiner chipped in 15 points. Gardiner helped pick up the slack when Betts got into foul trouble after getting 2 first-quarter fouls.
Even though this is UCLA’s first Final Four appearance, it’s not the program’s first shot at a women’s basketball title. The Bruins won a national title in 1978 in the pre-NCAA era of women’s basketball. In regional finals though, the third time was the charm for UCLA, which won its first NCAA regional final in 3 attempts.
It was a tough afternoon all around in Spokane for LSU. Tigers senior forward Aneesah Morrow’s nose was bloodied after a collision with teammate Sa’Myah Smith, but she checked back into her final game for the Tigers without any facial protection and finished with 15 points.
Flau’Jae Johnson scored 28 points to lead 3-seed LSU (31-6), which captured the national title 2 years ago under coach Kim Mulkey but has now been eliminated in the Elite Eight 2 straight years.
Johnson’s layup got the Tigers within 56-52 with 3:24 left, which ignited an “LSU! LSU!” chant from the crowd. But the Tigers couldn’t get any closer, and Jaquez made a 3-pointer with 1:30 left that basically sealed the Bruins’ win over the program that eliminated them from last year’s Sweet 16.
LSU falls to No. 1 seed UCLA in Elite 8, ending season Saturday Down South.
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