PHOENIX, AZ– UCLA demolished the University of South Carolina, 79-51, to win its first-ever NCAA Championship on Sunday afternoon before a capacity crowd at Mortgage Matchup Center.
Playing at the NCAA Final Four for the second consecutive season, the Bruins (37-1) never trailed in Sunday’s championship showdown against South Carolina (36-4).
It was the group of Seniors who propelled the Bruins to a NCAA Basketball title.
Senior Gabriela Jaquez scored a team-leading 21 points, connecting on 8 of 14 shots and hitting 2 of 4 attempts from 3-point distance. In all, five Bruins scored in double figures. Gianna Kneepkens totaled 15 points, connecting on 3 of 7 shots from behind the 3-point arc.
Lauren Betts had 14 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kiki Rice each scored 10 points.
Under the leadership of Cori Close, in her 15th season as The Michael Price Family UCLA Women’s Head Basketball Coach, UCLA earned its second women’s basketball national title. The Bruins won the 1978 national title in the AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women), before the NCAA took over the women’s basketball championship in 1982.
“This has been a calling, not a job,” Coach Close said in the postgame press conference on Sunday afternoon. “I’ve been saying it all day, but I don’t even know how else to say it – it’s immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine. I’m really grateful. It’s not about me.”
“It’s about watching these incredible young women be dream chasers, to watch them grow in ways that they will remember and it will stick with them for the rest of their lives.”
In addition, UCLA’s win against South Carolina helped the university to secure its 126th NCAA team championship, the athletic department’s second NCAA title in the 2025-26 academic year (also, men’s water polo on Dec. 7, 2025). The Bruins rank No. 2 in the nation, among all NCAA Division I programs, with 126 NCAA team titles.
UCLA used a balanced scoring attack in the opening two quarters. Kneepkens and Jaquez led the Bruins with seven points each, while Betts had six points and seven rebounds. The Bruins shot nearly 43 percent in the two periods, knocking down 15 of 35 shots.
South Carolina shot 9-or-35 in the game’s first two periods (25.7 percent) and was just 1-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc. Tessa Johnson had 10 of South Carolina’s 21 points, prior to halftime.
UCLA held a 28-point lead when the final buzzer sounded, marking the Bruins’ first-ever NCAA championship victory. The Bruins closed their 2025-26 season with a 37-1 overall record and a perfect 18-0 mark in Big Ten play.
