Big Ten Tournament: Lauren Betts, UCLA women top Nebraska to reach semifinals

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — The UCLA women’s basketball team is one win away from a potential rematch with USC.

Lauren Betts finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots and Gabriela Jaquez added a season-high 23 points and nine rebounds as second-seeded UCLA advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals with an 85-74 victory over 10th-seeded Nebraska on Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Dominating the Cornhuskers at both ends of the court with layups, putbacks and blocks, Betts shot 11 for 15 from the field and added five assists and three steals to help UCLA bounce back from Sunday’s loss to USC.

“Obviously, I learned a lot from the last game,” Betts said of her 11-point effort against the Trojans, “and I just wanted to kind of earn some of that trust back for my teammates and my coaches. I just thought today honestly more than anything, I’m just proud of my communication and my leadership. That’s all I really wanted to focus on.”

Point guard Kiki Rice had 14 points and nine assists to help the Bruins (28-2) rebound from Sunday’s loss to the Trojans, which decided the Big Ten regular-season title. UCLA will face third-seeded Ohio State (25-5), which edged 11th-seeded Iowa, 60-59, in a semifinal on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. PT. UCLA beat the Buckeyes, 65-52, last month at Pauley Pavilion.

Top-seeded USC faces No. 5 seed Michigan in the first semifinal at noon.

Britt Prince had 24 points and Alexis Markowski scored 11 for Nebraska (21-11), which was playing its third game in three days but repeatedly charged back every time it appeared UCLA was about to take control.

UCLA players called a meeting the morning after the USC game to discuss how they needed to improve and Rice said the team responded with one of its best practices in weeks, but they were not at their best against Nebraska.

Betts gave the Bruins a halftime lead by scoring on a putback and blocking a shot by Markowski with four seconds left.

“Honestly, my main focus is to just disrupt people’s offense,” Betts said. “I wanted to make it as difficult as possible for them. Obviously, Markowski, she’s a great player and a lot of respect to her. I wanted to make it as difficult for them as possible tonight knowing that’s their go-to player.”

The Bruins, who shot just 6 for 29 from 3-point range, struggled to pull away until breaking a 47-47 tie early in the third quarter with a 13-2 run. They finally sealed it with seven straight points to make it 71-60 with 5:36 to play.

UCLA coach Cori Close said her team took too many 3-point shots, particularly early in possessions.

“We have a very coachable team,” Close said, “but that was way too many threes and especially way too many threes off the bounce in the first 15 seconds of the shot clock.”

The Bruins held a 16-8 offensive rebounding edge and outscored Nebraska 17-6 in second-chance points, and while it wasn’t their most complete effort of the season, Betts was pleased with the end result.

“Obviously, it’s we over me at this point,” Betts said. “It’s March, and we need to win games, and that’s all that matters right now. You’ve got to at this point just put your pride aside and do what the team needs you to do, and I thought everyone stepped up today. So I’m really proud of everyone.”

Close praised her team’s ability to scrap for a victory.

“We needed to earn some toughness, especially in response to how we finished the regular season,” she said. “So this was about being connected. This was about response. This was about doing the little things to make each other better.”