UCLA Ladies’s Basketball Shockingly Upsets No. 1 South Carolina

The UCLA ladies’s basketball workforce has upset No. 1 South Carolina 77-62 at Pauley Pavilion.

This victory ends a 43 sport profitable streak for the Gamecocks, who had beforehand not misplaced because the 2023 NCAA Last 4, once they fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Gamecocks went undefeated and received the Nationwide Championship in the course of the 2023-24 season. General, South Carolina had received 85 of their final 86 video games.

That is UCLA ladies’s basketball’s first win in opposition to an AP No. 1 workforce in class historical past, and can cement the Bruins as true title contenders this season.

The UCLA-South Carolina matchup was one in every of two thrilling early season video games on the ladies’s school basketball schedule this weekend, together with USC-Notre Dame. No. 6 Notre Dame upset No. 3 USC on Saturday, and now No. 5 UCLA has gotten the win over the No. 1 workforce within the nation.

The extremely anticipated matchup noticed many followers ready outdoors the doorways of Pauley Pavilion earlier than the sport, and the Bruins didn’t disappoint in entrance of the house crowd.

This final result has the possibility at probably propelling UCLA to the No. 1 seed within the nation. The Bruins will nearly actually rise within the subsequent version of the AP Prime 25 ballot, whereas South Carolina ought to drop down from their throne.

From the get-go, the Bruins outplayed the Gamecocks and held an early lead. They outscored South Carolina 20-10 within the first quarter, and elevated that result in 23-12 on the finish of the half, the primary time South Carolina trailed by 10 or extra factors after the primary half since Dec. 2021, per Alexa Philippou of ESPN.

The Bruins labored collectively in a real workforce effort for the victory. 4 completely different gamers scored double digit factors. Lauren Betts, the No. 1 recruit within the 2022 class, recorded a double-double with 11 factors and 14 rebounds. Kiki Rice, the No. 2 recruit in that class, added 11 factors, one rebound, and three assists. Londynn Jones, Janiah Barker, and Gabriela Jaquez mixed for 28 factors off of the bench.

“Should you’ve been sleeping on UCLA, YOU NEED TO STOP RIGHT NOW,” Betts mentioned after the sport on the FS1 broadcast.

The breakout performer of the sport was freshman Elina Aarnisalo, who contributed 13 factors, three rebounds, and 4 assists. Aarnisalo is at present averaging 12.5 factors, 4.3 rebounds, and seven.5 assists per sport.

The Bruins have made the NCAA Candy 16 over every of the final two seasons, however haven’t damaged into the Elite Eight or Last 4 over the previous few years. If they’ll proceed beating higher echelon opponents like South Carolina, this might turn out to be the season they honestly break into the championship rivalry.

For extra school basketball information, take a look at Newsweek Sports.