This post was updated March 1 at 9:20 p.m.
The Trojans may have been able to shut down Lauren Betts, but they could not shut down the Bruins’ six other shooters.
With the senior center’s scoring limited, a team effort led No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball (28-1, 18-0 Big Ten) to a 73-50 win against rival USC (17-12, 9-9) as the squads rounded out the 2025-26 regular season at Galen Center on Sunday afternoon. The Big Ten regular season champions found the lead early in the first quarter and kept it until the final buzzer.
“Our superpower lies in our teamwork,” said senior guard Gabriela Jaquez. “So if we play together, we’re going to have good outcomes.”
During UCLA’s Jan. 3 rivalry win at Pauley Pavilion, Betts shot 50% from the field and hit a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. But this rivalry match was different, as the senior center found trouble in the paint facing double and triple teams from USC players at the basket.
USC’s tallest player, at 6-foot-5, only appeared in the match for two minutes. The remainder of the squad, standing at most at 6-foot-3, was still able to limit UCLA’s 6-foot-7 leading shooter to 2-for-10 shooting – far under her 16.7 point average. However, Betts’ efforts were shown in other areas, as she led the game in boards grabbed with 15.
“Lauren had 15 rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers,” said coach Cori Close. “There’s a lot of ways to impact winning.”
Double and triple plays backfired on USC though, as its leading scorer, guard Jazzy Davidson, played limited minutes after collecting three personal fouls early in the second frame.
But even without Betts’ usual paint performance, UCLA boasts four other players averaging double-digit points this season, including senior guards Kiki Rice and Jaquez, as well as graduate student guard Gianna Kneepkens, who sank 11, 14 and 14 points, respectively.
“Anytime we come out and we’re connected and playing together, we know that we can win any game,” said graduate student guard Charlisse Leger-Walker. “We’re thinking about one another, and so we’re not thinking about what past success we’ve had or what’s to come in the future.”
Together, these scorers average 59.3 points per game. But against USC, the quartet put up 44 points, while UCLA’s other leading scorer took the helm.
Leger-Walker’s 8-for-13 shooting equaled her season high of 20 points as she passed the 2,000 career-points mark. The Washington State transfer, who redshirted the 2024-25 season because of an ACL injury, averaged 9.1 points per game prior to the rivalry match. The New Zealand local holds a career-high points scored in a game of 40, which she scored as a junior at Washington State.
[Related: UCLA women’s basketball dominates USC 80-46, breaks crosstown rivalry series tie]
“Because we have so many talented pieces, it could be anyone’s night,” Leger-Walker said. “I happened to score a lot tonight, but I don’t really go into the games thinking too much about that. A lot of my role … is making sure that we’re making the right decisions and the right reads.”
By the half, Kneepkens and Leger-Walker had contributed to 19 of UCLA’s 38 points, leading USC by 18 points.
But the Trojans turned the heat up at the half, diminishing the Bruins’ lead to as low as nine points within the third frame. With Davidson reentering the match, she and guard Kennedy Smith contributed 10 of USC’s 16 third-quarter points.
The Trojans held the Bruins to 35.3% third-quarter shooting while they shot at a 46.2% clip from the field. But despite logging its lowest scoring percent quarter of the match, UCLA was still able to expand its lead to 21 points entering the final 10-minute period.
“That’s basketball,” Close said. “They’re going to make some shots, and they’re going to go on a run. … So that’s why you have to call a timeout to stop it from happening.”
Betts was unable to sink a field goal throughout the second half, with her only point coming from a free throw. She added nine boards across the last two frames, though.
The final minutes of the regular season ended just as the rest of the match did: with a team effort as five different players contributed to the 16-point quarter to cap off the 23-point win.
Although USC originally credentialed photographers and videographers for the game, a USC Athletics spokesperson barred the Daily Bruin’s photographer and videographer from working courtside upon arrival.
