UCLA advanced to the Sweet 16 for a second consecutive season with a 67-63 win over Creighton at Pauley Pavilion on Monday night.
The Bruins will play the defending national champion LSU Lady Tigers on Saturday at noon in Albany, New York.
Last year, UCLA lost to South Carolina in the Sweet 16.
UCLA is having one of its best seasons in program history at 27-6. They spent a good part of the year ranked second in the country. They’ve only made two trips to the Elite Eight, 1999 and 2018. They’ve never been to the Final Four.
The Bruins top scorer is 6-foot-7 sophomore center Lauren Betts, a transfer from Stanford. Betts averages 15 points and nine rebounds a game. She has 12 double-doubles on the season.
Fifth-year senior Charisma Osborne is the heart and soul of the team. She averages 14 points per game and is the school’s second all-time leading scorer.
The Bruins also have an outstanding point guard in Kiki Rice. The 5-foot-11 sophomore is a Maryland native like Angel Reese. Rice is averaging 13 points and four assists a game.
Rice had 20 points in the NCAA Tournament first round win over Cal Baptist and then scored 24 points in the come from behind win over Creighton in Round two.
The rebounding battle will be fun to watch. UCLA is number one in the country in rebounding margin, UCLA is number two.
