This post was updated Jan. 26 at 10:52 p.m.

Lauren Betts broke her career-high points record to help UCLA defeat its toughest Big Ten challenger of the season.

No. 1 UCLA women’s basketball (20-0, 8-0 Big Ten ) defeated No. 8 Maryland (16-4, 6-3) 82-67 in the Bruins’ highest-ranked Big Ten matchup so far this season. Betts, the 6-foot-7 junior center, contributed a career-high 33 points to help the Bruins continue their seasonlong undefeated streak.

The first quarter saw a back-and-forth battle with both teams exchanging leads.

UCLA found a quick lead four minutes later to take the upper hand after a long-range shot from junior guard Kiki Rice. However, Maryland quickly responded with a shot of its own to maintain a 10-10 tie.

“Honestly, I think that we could be even more dominant than we are,” said coach Cori Close. “We still have lapses when we talk about how we just read the situation on the defensive end of the floor, but … as many weapons as we have on offense, we can’t find our identity there. Our identity has to be with defense and rebounding.” 

The Bruins broke the curse with a fast break assist from graduate student forward Angela Dugalić to Rice, ending the first quarter with a 20-15 lead.

Junior center Lauren Betts cashed in 14 of the 20 points along with 3 rebounds. By the end of the first half, Betts had already put up 24 points, shooting 11-for-12 from the field.

The Bruins extended the score to the largest lead of the game thus far, 33-21, with five minutes left in the quarter.

However, the lead was not held for long.

A surge from the Terrapins capsized the Bruins’ lead to end the quarter 39-34 after a 3-point jumper from guard Sarah Te-Biasu set the wheels in motion. The Bruins were unable to fight back after multiple offensive turnovers resulted in a five-point increase to end the quarter.

The Bruins furthered their lead in the first minute with the help of a Betts layup to start the half. However, the Bruins were stalled at the eight-minute mark, unable to cash in any offensive rebounds for points until Betts drew the shooting foul.

Betts went 1-for-2 at the line, leaving her just one point shy of breaking her all-time scoring record and reaching the 1,000-point milestone.

Her time came soon after.

With 5:17 remaining in the quarter, Betts sank the layup with an assist by Rice, etching her name in the record books and becoming the latest Bruin to surpass 1,000 points – all in less than two full seasons with UCLA.

“I couldn’t do it without my teammates, my coaches,” Betts said. “I think my coaches just do a really great job putting me in the best positions to do anything, and honestly, the points will come, but I think that it kind of just goes with the flow of the game, and I don’t really try to force anything.”

By the end of the third quarter, Betts accounted for 31 of UCLA’s 65 total points, going 14-for-15 from the field. The Terrapins were held to 48 points, giving the Bruins their biggest lead of the game thus far.

“The third quarter was the difference,” Close said. “We came out, and we started the third quarter with a kill, which is three stops in a row, and I think we just had a mindset of we didn’t care how it was going to happen, and we were going to force really difficult shots.”

UCLA started the final quarter of the match with no points on the board until free throws by Rice pushed the score to 67-52.

Rice was the second-leading scorer for the Bruins with 14 points by the end of the third quarter. The Bethesda, Maryland, local was watched by family and friends in a personal homecoming match.

“My guards, Kiki, spent a great job today just finding me in transition,” Betts said. “I think it started with our defense. Once you started getting stops and you just locked in on that, I think it just created easier touches for me, so I have to shout out to my teammates for creating those opportunities for me.”

Leading in assists, the Bruins set up junior guard Londynn Jones for her second 3-pointer of the match. After drawing the foul in the last four minutes, Betts reached a career-high milestone of 33 points.

Following another assist by Rice to freshman forward Kendall Dudley, the Bruins cemented their largest lead of the match at 82-67 to end the game.

“I’m feeling really good as a team – as the only undefeated team left in women’s and men’s college basketball,” Rice said. “And I feel good about the growth areas that we’ve been making, and individually I just felt really good out there.” 

UCLA completed its northeast affair and will return to Pauley Pavilion for the first time since Jan. 1. The Bruins were originally scheduled to play the Wildcats at home Jan. 12, but the match was postponed until further notice due to the Los Angeles fires.