This post was updated Jan. 25 at 10:45 p.m.

With another win, the Bruins continue their feat of dominance on the road.

No. 3 UCLA women’s basketball (19-1, 9-0 Big Ten) began yet another road trip with an 80-46 win against Northwestern (8-12, 2-7) on Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. 

The Bruins set the tone early with a 10-2 run. Within the opening minutes, graduate student guard Gianna Kneepkens knocked down a three-pointer, bolstered by a triple from senior guard Kiki Rice to stretch the lead to eight midway through the quarter. 

“I love Kiki’s stat line,” coach Cori Close said. “I just think of her passing decisions with eight assists, the way that she’s making other people better, and then her steals rate, and she’s doing it without fouling.” 

However, it was senior guard Gabriela Jaquez who anchored the Bruins’ offense, scoring a team-high eight points in the period while attacking on the fast break. With four assists from senior center Lauren Betts, UCLA finished the first quarter with a 56.3% field goal percentage and 50% clip from beyond the arc.  

Capitalizing on 20 total Wildcat turnovers, the Bruins converted steals and deflections into 31 points. Defensively, the Bruins racked up 15 steals, with Rice, Jaquez and Betts combining for 10 of them. The Bruins are second in the conference in forced turnovers.

“We want to play fast, and so if I can apply pressure being the front line in there, and make life difficult for their guards, it’s going to make everything easier,” Rice said. “Then I think as a point guard, it’s just finding a balance between, ‘Where do we think the ball needs to go? Who’s hot, who needs a touch, or the mismatches,’ and that’s something I feel like over these four years I’ve grown into.”

UCLA Athletics did not provide media availability for a second player.

Northwestern found late momentum behind guard Xamiya Walton, who hit two 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the first quarter to cut into the Bruins’ lead. However, it wasn’t enough, with UCLA holding a seven-point lead into the second stanza. 

The Bruins opened the quarter with immediate pressure as Jaquez scored a layup less than 30 seconds in, setting a fast-paced stretch. The layup was one of 48 points in the paint for the Bruins throughout the game, quadrupling Northwestern’s mark. 

After multiple Northwestern miscues, UCLA saw further transition opportunities off steals from Rice and Kneepkens to continue its lead. On the glass, the Bruins held a decisive 18-8 edge, with Rice taking the lead with 10 total rebounds – her fourth double-double of the season. 

The Bruins shut out the Wildcats in the last three minutes of the second quarter, limiting them to eight points in the entire frame and more than doubling Northwestern’s points by the half. 

“We didn’t have our best shooting night from three, shooting 23%, but I think that’s why we make such a big deal about being anchored in our defense because sometimes those are going to come, and that means we have to reestablish who we are in the paint,” Close said. “When you’re having an off night from three, which we did with 44 points in the paint, and we hang our hat on defense, and I think having that shooting night is exactly why we anchor it in that order.”

In fact, UCLA shot 23.5% from three and scored 48 points in the paint.

Controlling both ends of the floor, the Bruins went into the second half shooting an efficient 60.7% from the field and 50% from the three, compared to Northwestern’s 37.5% and 33.3%, respectively. 

Opening the second half with a flurry of more forced turnovers, the Bruins returned to the court with consecutive layups from Betts, Kneepkens and Jaquez to push past a 25-point margin within the first two minutes, preventing the Wildcats from finding any offensive rhythm. 

UCLA’s largest lead came in the third quarter, when the Bruins extended the margin to 70-38. 

Jaquez, Rice and Betts led the Bruins’ offensive production all throughout the game, with Jaquez pacing the Bruins with a team-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. UCLA entered the fourth quarter with its largest lead of the game and four players in double figures. Coming off a team-high 25-point performance against Purdue on Wednesday, Jaquez continued her strong scoring stretch with another efficient outing. 

The Bruins kept the Wildcats to just 46 points, adding another mark in the win column of an almost perfect record.