It’s been a season to remember for the UCLA women’s basketball team. The Bruins outlasted Louisiana State University, 72–65, Sunday, March 30 in Spokane, Washington, to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament’s Final Four for the first time in the campus’s history.
The Bruins (34-2) and the University of South Carolina, who beat Duke University on Sunday, advanced to the semifinals first, with Texas and the University of Connecticut joining them after victories over Texas Christian University and the University of Southern California, respectively.
UCLA will face the University of Connecticut on Friday, April 4, at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, in a battle of Wooden Award finalists, the highest honor in college basketball, as center Lauren Betts for UCLA takes on the Huskies and guard Paige Bueckers. The teams will tip off at 6:30 p.m. PT.
The tournament’s championship game will take place Sunday, April 6 at noon PT.
Against LSU, the No. 1–ranked Bruins, in their third appearance in the tournament’s Elite Eight (previously in 1999 and 2018), registered their seventh win in a row and improved their all-time tournament record to 29–19.
To reach the Final Four, UCLA has beaten Southern University, the University of Richmond, the University of Mississippi and LSU.
The best season in the history of UCLA women’s basketball
Now in her 14th season, head coach Cori Close has piloted UCLA to its first season with 30 or more wins and was named the 2024–25 coach of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. This season was the seventh in the past eight years that she has led the Bruins to the tournament’s Sweet 16.
In honor of their achievements and to root on the UCLA women, landmarks around Los Angeles will be lit up in blue and gold on Thursday, April 3, including City Hall, the U.S. Bank Tower, Rose Bowl Stadium, Dodger Stadium and the Pacific Wheel Ferris wheel, with a live feed available at pacpark.com/live to watch the lighting program.
Read more about the Elite Eight game against LSU on the UCLA Athletics website or find the latest UCLA women’s basketball updates at: https://uclabruins.com/sports/womens-basketball
