UCLA storms past South Carolina to claim its 1st NCAA women’s basketball title
PHOENIX (AP) — Gabriela Jaquez scored 21 points, Lauren Betts added 16 and UCLA routed South Carolina 79-51 Sunday to win its first NCAA championship in women’s basketball. The near-record lopsided victory completed the Bruins’ journey through this year’s March Madness that started following a loss to UConn in last season’s Final Four. The Bruins ran through their opponents this season with their only loss coming in November, to Texas in a Thanksgiving tournament. UCLA (37-1) was led by Betts and her fellow seniors and graduate students, like Jaquez _ who played all four years with the Bruins. She also had 10 rebounds and five assists in front of her brother Jaime, who plays for the Miami Heat and flew in to attend the game to watch his alma mater win.
UConn must overcome Michigan’s dominance to establish a basketball dynasty in national title game
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — There’s a dynasty brewing in college basketball. And UConn can cement that status by overcoming a Michigan powerhouse that is racking up historically impressive numbers, hoping itself to go down as one of the sport’s greatest teams. Those are the stakes in Monday night’s title game between the Huskies and Wolverines. UConn is trying to become the first program since John Wooden’s UCLA behemoth of the 1960s and ’70s to win three championships over a four-season span, while Michigan is trying to cap off a March Madness string of dominance, the likes of which were last seen by the very UConn program that won the title in 2023 and ’24.