On Saturday morning at MVP Arena, LSU won 78-69 against UCLA. An interesting match between two women's basketball teams that defined the ticket for the next round.
Louisiana State University plays in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), where they have won 31 games and lost 5. The Louisiana team finished in third place in the Southeastern Conference and is looking to repeat the championship. In the first round they faced Rice and won by 10 points. To advance to the Sweet 16, they defeated Middle Tennessee by 27 points and thus achieved their ticket.
On the other hand, the University of California in Los Angeles finished in second place in the Pac-12 Conference after 27 games won and 7 lost. The Los Angeles team was looking to be this year's champions and the arrival of Kiki Rice to the team gave signs that they could fight for the trophy. The first round they won by winning by 29 points against California Baptist University and then they faced Creighton where they also won to advance to the Sweet 16.
At the beginning of the game, both teams played very evenly and either of them could have taken the lead in the first quarter. The first to use their first timeout was UCLA in the 7th minute, the coach asked for concentration since they had two losses in a few minutes of the game. In the end, neither team had the advantage and in the first quarter the game was tied 15-15.
In the second quarter, UCLA was dominated by LSU and managed to gain up to a 10-point lead. Flau'jae Johnson moved the Louisiana team's offense using his experience and put his team ahead on the scoreboard for the first time in the game. The first half ended and the score was LSU 34-27 UCLA.
Returning from the break, the Los Angeles team increased their level of play, Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez attacked the paint at every opportunity and put a large part of LSU in foul trouble. UCLA managed to score 21 points in that quarter, they dominated the entire quarter and took the lead again. The third quarter ended, again the game was tied 48-48.
In the fourth quarter, LSU made one last push and managed to take a 5-point lead. Despite the effort, LSU imposed its experience and ability that did not allow the Angelinas to come back. The game ended and LSU took the 78-69 victory.
Upcoming matches and featured players
UCLA says goodbye to the tournament after losing at this stage of the tournament. On the other hand, LSU will face Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Elite 8. The game will be April 1st at MVP Arena and it will be a great game.
We must highlight the great game of forward Flau'jae Johnson, he played very well the entire game and got 24 points, 1 assist and 12 rebounds in 39 minutes played. Likewise, it was a very good game for Gabriela Jaquez who had 14 points, 1 assist and 5 rebounds from the bench.