SACRAMENTO — Once she missed her first layup as part of a frustrating first half, Angela Dugalic knew what was needed.
“I was like, ‘Let me just go rebound,’” the UCLA graduate forward told The California Post while sitting at her locker. “I knew everything else was going to come.”
Indeed.
With Dugalic grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds and helping the Bruins dominate in the paint despite a flurry of missed layups, there was no stopping them in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
In the latest sign of her ability to impact a game off the bench, Dugalic notched a double-double to help UCLA pull away from Minnesota for an 80-56 victory on Friday night at the Golden 1 Center.
Call her a big guard or a forward. At 6 feet 4, it doesn’t matter given her array of skills.
“She just makes such a big difference off the bench,” UCLA center Lauren Betts said of the teammate who also scored 13 points. “It’s really hard to guard her because she can play everywhere on the floor. And she’s really dominated inside this year. And I’m just really proud of her and how hard she’s worked.”
Dugalic and Betts (16 points) were big reasons the Bruins won the battle of points in the paint, 52-22. Trying to stop Betts is hard enough; putting Dugalic on the floor alongside her can bend defenses beyond their breaking point.
“If they’re going to focus on me and try to take me away,” Betts said, “Ang usually has a mismatch there. So we’re just going to make sure to try to get her touches moving forward.”
Dugalic’s story is one of selflessness and a symbol of her team’s willingness to do whatever is needed in pursuit of a title.
Having started 34 of 35 games last season, Dugalic agreed to exclusively come off the bench during her final college season.
“I knew sometimes the changing of the rotations, that might affect some people differently and that would affect me differently each game,” Dugalic said, “so it’s just like the anxiety, if I could take that away from me and my teammates, that is easiest solution, and I would do that any single day for any of my teammates and our team.”
Coach Cori Close has asked Dugalic to do different things based on the opponent. When she goes up against an undersized counterpart, she posts them up. When they’re bigger, she’ll draw them out of the interior and set more screens to free teammates.
“Her ability this year to step into whatever role is asked of her and her ability to do that consistently and at a high level, we just trust her so much out there,” point guard Kiki Rice said. “So we know whenever she comes in the game, she’s going to make an impact. Whether that’s scoring, knocking down 3s, scoring the paint, getting rebounds — I thought she did a fantastic job of crashing the boards for us today.
“But she truly is one of our X-factors. And she changes the game.”
Doing what was needed Friday also involved staying aggressive offensively after that early miss. Dugalic went on to make six of her final eight shots, the super sub stepping up once more for a team that will face third-seeded Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday.
“We know we can count on her every single time and she’s going to make smart decisions, she’s going to really help us out,” Rice said. “We appreciate just the way that she shows up for us and is really selfless in her role.”
