This post was updated March 21 at 10:01

March means a team that lost just one game through the regular season and conference tournament is now suddenly one loss away from the end of its season.
March means rooting for the underdog. It means people are ecstatic for an upset.
But the fans of chaos will need to bet on another team – and the Lancers will need to wait until fall.
Though No. 1 seed UCLA women’s basketball (32-1, 18-0 Big Ten) sputtered like a hare realizing racing a tortoise would not be a cakewalk, it would ultimately avoid infamy Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, defeating No. 16 seed California Baptist (23-11, 15-3 Western Athletic). The 96-43 win that opened UCLA’s NCAA tournament run earned it a bid to Monday’s Round of 32, where it will face No. 8 seed Oklahoma State. 

“It was unacceptable,” said coach Cori Close. “We let each other down… in that first half. That being said, I trust this team. They understand the assignment, and they will adjust.”

The Lancers entered Westwood with the exact same margin of error as the Bruins – sudden death – despite nine more losses this season and a 12-19 finish the campaign prior.
And Cal Baptist proved steady through the first half – leading six minutes into the first quarter and trimming the Bruin lead to five with just under two minutes until the half.
The difference of standards could be felt through the venue’s vibrations. Lancer fans erupted with every flutter in their favor. The Bruin faithful, though larger in presence, did not seem to celebrate every little victory the same way.

Though the Bruins finished shooting 35-for-70 from the field, it started 1-for-6.
UCLA did not make its second 3-pointer until the third quarter – and made just one of its final five shots from deep. The Bruins finished the affair 5-for-15 on the perimeter – down from the 37.5% boasted through the first 32 games.
Early in the 2025-2026 campaign, Coach Cori Close said part of the Bruins’ semifinal collapse was the offense’s over reliance on senior center Lauren Betts, and that one of the team’s focuses would be to develop a more varied offense.Through the first two frames, it seemed like any progress the Bruins had made over their previous 32 games had dissipated. Betts finished the opening half with 14 of her team’s 44 points, six rebounds and a plus-minus of 14 despite playing just 12 minutes. 

The center had shot 5-for-9 from the field through two quarters – the rest of UCLA had made just 11 of 27 attempts.
Graduate student guard Gianna Kneepkens entered the tournament averaging 13.4 points per game, but went into the intermission with just two points, missing four of her five shots. Though she would ultimately garner seven, the guard that boasted a 44.2% clip from beyond the arc shot just 1-for-5 from deep Saturday.

“Her IQ is so high, her competitive nature is so good,” Close said. “When she’s below the bar of what I know she’s capable of – I love her enough to hold her to it.”

But any such script resembling the classic fable seemed to shred at the half.
Cal Baptist opened the third quarter as a turtle flipped on its back against UCLA’s full-court press – while Goliath got off to an 11-0 start and never looked back.

“In the locker room (at halftime), it was made very clear to us that we needed to do a better job – and that was before the coaches came in,” said graduate student forward Angela Dugalić. “In the second half, we did a better job because we were all on the same page.”

The Lancers needed until 7:20 in the first quarter before making their first basket of the half and 5:10 before making their second.
Dugalić recorded her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds – the first coming Nov. 11 against then-No. 6 Oklahoma – and freshman forward Sienna Betts had her first, with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

“I’m really happy for her,” Lauren Betts said of her younger sister. “Really proud of her growth and how she came out today. And honestly, besides her scoring, I thought her defense was a lot better.”

Though Charlisse Leger-Walker scored just eight points,the graduate student guard improved from a first-half plus-minus of five to 41 in the second – for a team-best total of 46. Senior forward Gabriela Jaquez totaled 16 points and five rebounds on 5-for-8 shooting.
Senior guard Kiki Rice scored 10 in the final two quarters – beating Lauren Betts by two – and finished Saturday with 18.
The center, however, still wound up atop the scorers’ list with 22 and added a double-double of her own with 10 boards.