The UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team picked up another top-25 win on New Year’s Day with a 86-70 win over No. 24 Michigan after the Bruins led by only seven points entering the fourth quarter.
Even though the date of the game was 1/1, there were double-doubles to celebrate for the Bruins on Wednesday, with juniors Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice each recording a double-double in the first game of the new year. Betts had 13 points, ten rebounds and four blocks in the game while Rice added 16 points, 10 assists and three steals.
Rice missed the start of the season with an injury and eased her way back in, averaging 5.67 points per game in her first three games of the year. Since then she’s been terrific, with her points per game sitting at 16.13 over her last eight games, scoring double-figures in every game except one.
Not only did Rice have an efficient game shooting the ball, 6-8 from the field and 4-4 from the line, she reached another milestone as she collected her 300th career assist with UCLA.
Michigan hit a buzzer beater to end the first half to trim UCLA’s lead to 40-29 at halftime, by the start of the fourth quarter it was 57-50 as the Wolverines were able to keep it competitive against the Bruins.
The seven points were as close as Michigan would get in the fourth quarter, with consecutive threes by junior Londynn Jones pushing the UCLA lead to 13 with under eight minutes to play as the UCLA offense put the game on ice with 29 4th quarter points.
With the win, UCLA now sits at 14-0 and 3-0 in the Big Ten. Next the Bruins will head to Indiana to face the Hoosiers on Saturday at 9:00a.m.
