Betts returns for Bruins; Watkins leads Trojans
By The Associated Press
Gabriela Jaquez had 21 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, Kiki Rice scored 20 points and No. 9 UCLA beat Arizona 66-58 on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion.
Lauren Betts returned for UCLA (184, 7-4 Pac-12) after missing four games for an undisclosed medical reason. The Bruins were 2-2 without the 6-foot-7 sophomore.
Betts, who didn’t start but entered the game in the first quarter, has the nation’s best field-goal percentage at 68.3% and was averaging more than 15 points per game before her absence. She scored her first basket on a 6-footer off the glass in the second quarter and finished with six points, five rebounds and four blocked shots in 27 minutes.
UCLA had a short bench with Angela Dugalic and Lina Sontag playing in the women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Brazil this weekend. Dugalic is playing for Serbia and Sontag for Germany.
It’s huge,” coach Cori Close said of Betts’ return. “Obviously even more huge because we’re missing Lina and Angela who are with their national teams, and good luck to Germany and Serbia.
“I think more than that is her spirit. Everyone was talking about that in practice yesterday. It’s not that she’s just a really good player, it’s her energy and spirit for the sake of the team and that was really missed. We’re thrilled to have her back.”
Rice shot 9 of 12 from the field and scored 10 of her points in the first quarter, while Jaquez scored 10 points in the third quarter. Rice shot 75% but UCLA’S four other starters were a combined 4 of 24. Jaquez was 8-of-15 shooting off the bench.
The Bruins, who are third in the country in offensive rebound percentage, had 18 offensive rebounds.
UCLA led 31-28 at halftime and 4843 after three quarters and always seemed to have an answer for Arizona (12-11, 4-7).
Juju Watkins scored 25 of her 31 points over the final two quarters as the Trojans won late Friday night at the Galen Center.
Watkins started slowly. She had just six points on 3 of 12 shooting at halftime, including two airballs in the first quarter.
She also finished with seven rebounds, five assists and made 8 of 9 free throws as the Trojans (17-4, 7-4 Pac-12) won their third in a row.
Watkins scored USC’S final five points of the third for a 59-45 lead in front of “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis. She put on a show, battling in the paint for rebounds and snaking
NO. 10 USC 81, ARIZONA STATE 63 >> through defenders to score.
Iowa senior guard Caitlin Clark resumes her chace of the NCAA career scoring record in women’s basketball when the Hawkeyes play at Nebraska in a nationally televised game this morning. Clark, who is averaging a nationleading 32.2 points per game, needs 39 points to break the record of 3,527 points held by Kelsey Plum, who played at Washington.
CLARK RESUMES RECORD CHASE >>
Maddie Nolan scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the second quarter, Kindyll Wetta dished out seven of the Buffaloes’ season-high 32 assists on Friday night.
Nolan finished 6 of 11 from the floor, including a spurt just before halftime where she scored 11 straight points to help the Buffaloes (20-3, 10-2 Pac-12) pull away.
NO. 4 COLORADO 90, OREGON 57 >>
NO. 6 STANFORD 63, WASHINGTON 59, OT >>
Cameron Brink scored seven of her 22 points in overtime, Courtney Ogden added 11 points, and Stanford held on for the win in Seattle.
The Cardinal (21-3, 10-2 Pac-12) remained tied for the lead in the conference but it wasn’t easy. Stanford led by 15 in the first half as Washington struggled to make any shots, then watched the Huskies chip away over the final 2 1/2 quarters to send the game to overtime.