INDIANAPOLIS — They’re starting to get used to this.
Putting on commemorative hats, lifting a championship trophy, cutting down nets – it’s suddenly becoming commonplace for a UCLA women’s basketball team that once watched others do so longingly.
During their 38 years as members of the Pac-12, the Bruins won one conference tournament title.
In the Big Ten, they are now 2 for 2.
They’re champions once again after dismantling Iowa in the conference title game Sunday, the top-seeded Bruins’ 96-45 victory inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse further validating the program’s rise under coach Cori Close.
Repeating was surprisingly easy.
Blitzing the second-seeded Hawkeyes with energetic defense from the opening tip, the Bruins also got a big early lift off the bench from a certain freshman forward.
After the first quarter, the point tally: Sienna Betts 8, Iowa 5.
UCLA was up 22-5 by then, quieting the heavily pro-Hawkeyes crowd. The rest was just details as the Bruins (31-1) became the first Big Ten team to win the tournament in back-to-back seasons since Iowa did it three years in a row from 2022-24.
Sharpshooter Gianna Kneepkens led the way for UCLA with 19 points, making four of eight 3-pointers for a team that made 13 of 26 shots from long range.
With UCLA surging into a 32-point lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter, the rest of the game was an extended celebration. The entire bench stood and cheered as reserve Lena Bilic buried a 3-pointer late in the third quarter.
There’s plenty to appreciate for a team that has won a program-record 25 consecutive games since falling to Texas in late November.
Iowa (26-6) will certainly hope to be placed on the opposite side of an NCAA Tournament bracket from the Bruins, who won the two meetings between the teams by a combined 74 points this season.
What it means
This further solidified the Bruins as the runaway top team in the Big Ten.
It also made UCLA the first team to go unbeaten through the Big Ten’s regular-season schedule and win the tournament since Maryland during the 2014-15 season.
As a bonus, it gave the Bruins another impressive victory in their bid to overtake UConn for the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Turning point
All it took was UCLA spotting the Hawkeyes the game’s first basket.
After that, it was all Bruins.
UCLA rolled off 13 straight points in eventually taking a 22-5 lead while totally dominating on the defensive end with five steals and three blocks in the opening quarter.
MVP
Just one of six Bruins to score in double figures, no one had a bigger impact in establishing her team’s dominance than Sienna Betts.
Making all four shots she took in the first quarter while also playing stout defense, the younger sister of Lauren Betts showed why she’ll be a cornerstone of the program’s plans for years to come.
Sienna Betts finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and one block.
Up next
The Bruins will surely be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament brackets revealed on Selection Sunday, hosting the first two rounds at Pauley Pavilion. That means an opening game against a No. 16 seed, with the winner of a game between the Nos. 8-9 seeds waiting in the second round.
