UCLA Women's Basketball: Bruins Eliminated in NCAA Tournament by Reigning Champs, LSU

James Brizuela | Mar 30, 2024

Mar 30, 2024; Albany, NY, USA; UCLA Bruins forward Gabriela Jaquez (23) dribbles the ball against / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The UCLA Bruins entered today as part of the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Despite their hopes to secure a first-ever Final Four, that will not come to be. The team has fallen to the LSU Tigers in their final game of the 2023 season. The final score was 78-69.

Lauren Betts, Londynn Jones, and Gabriela Jaquez all scored 14 points, but it was Charisma Osborne was who was unnaturally quiet with only 8 points.

The Bruins are usually more succesful in the three-point scoring, but they went 7-32 for a paltry 21.9%. The fourth quarter also saw star Kiki Rice foul out, ending her day with a total of 13 points.

Another issue for the Bruins, which head coach Cori Close spoke about was the amount of turnovers the team was giving up. LSU had 13 to UCLA's 19 turnovers. Those costly turnovers led to second-chance points that kept the game far too tight through the whole contest.

The reigning NCAAW champion Tigers came to play, with Flau'jay Johnson securing a big 24 point performance. Aneesah Morrow was right second with 17 points, and Angel Reese with 16 points.

This is the final contest for the Bruins in the Pac-12. They will join the Big Ten next season, and hopes to break their streak of not making the final four next season.

The 2023 was a great run for the Bruins, who remained highly-rated in the Pac-12. They held the #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but lost to the #3 seeded Tigers. It has been an exciting season, even if the result was a disappointing Sweet 16 exit.