Gabriela Jaquez comes up with a steal and layup for UCLA. (0:18)
PHOENIX -- This one was for Cori Close and Lauren Betts and all the current players wearing UCLA on their jerseys.
But it was also for Ann Meyers Drysdale and Denise Curry and John Wooden, too, and every Bruin who poured into what would become the first NCAA championship in UCLA women's basketball history.
The Bruins beat South Carolina 79-51 on Sunday in the national title game, and they did it the way they won all season long -- with a dominating inside presence, an unselfish offensive approach and a suffocating defense that handed the Gamecocks one of their worst losses in NCAA tournament history.
The 28-point margin of victory was the third-largest in a Division I women's championship final.
UCLA never trailed, opening a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter and never looking back in their 31st straight win to make history.
In her 15th season at the helm, Close pulled off what many didn't believe was possible at one of the most storied basketball programs in the entire country. UCLA last won a national title in women's basketball in 1978 in the AIAW, when Meyers Drysdale and Curry led the way. John Wooden won 10 titles for the men and set a standard that other coaches on the Los Angeles campus wanted to follow.
Indeed, as a young 22-year-old assistant at UCLA, Close and Wooden began what would become a deep and close relationship. She credits him to this day for helping her become the coach that she is now. With all those lessons learned, Close took the court Sunday with a team on a mission -- to avenge a poor Final Four appearance a year ago, with a senior-laden group determined to be the first team to win that elusive NCAA championship.
With Meyers Drysdale in attendance, UCLA asserted its game plan from the opening tip, immediately going down the floor and feeding Betts inside. Close had talked about her team being too reactive last year in a double-digit national semifinal loss. It was the complete opposite in the national title game this time around.
The Bruins were assertive and aggressive, using their size to get into the paint while altering shot after shot on the defensive end. Five UCLA players finished in double figures. Betts had 14 points and 11 rebounds, but it was UCLA lifer Gabriela Jaquez who had perhaps the most impactful presence -- as she not only found open shots but fed her teammates and got inside to grab one rebound after another.
Jaquez, who has played her entire career at UCLA, had 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a performance that will not soon be forgotten.
At the end of the first half, UCLA had the rebounding advantage and outscored South Carolina in the paint 20-12. Six UCLA players scored in the first half -- all seniors -- all with at least two field goals apiece. South Carolina changed its defensive approach late in the second half and started pressing, but UCLA figured that out, too and had a 36-23 advantage at the break.
South Carolina, meanwhile, shot 9-of-35 -- Joyce Edwards was 1-of-6 with two points. It was the Gamecocks' worst field goal percentage in any half of any game since December 2022, when they shot 26 percent in first half against South Dakota State.
UCLA opened the second half on a 12-3 run and the rout to a championship was on. The Bruins became the eighth team in the last 30 years to win their debut national championship, while Close became the longest-tenured head coach at a single school to win a long-awaited first championship.
