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UCLA Women's Basketball: Bruins Run Past Colorado in Epic Top 5 Matchup

The UCLA Bruins defeated the Colorado Buffaloes in front of a record crowd in Boulder on Friday night

Maren Angus-Coombs

UCLA Women's Basketball: Bruins Run Past Colorado in Epic Top 5 Matchup
UCLA Women's Basketball: Bruins Run Past Colorado in Epic Top 5 Matchup /
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The No. 5 UCLA Bruins (15-1) upset the No. 3 Colorado Buffaloes (15-2), 76-68, in front of a record crowd of 11,338 at the CU Events Center in Boulder on Friday night.

In a game that saw 20 lead changes and eight ties, it was a 7-0 run late in the fourth quarter that pushed UCLA past Colorado for good. The win pushed the Bruins into first place in the Pac-12 and handed the Buffs their first conference loss of the season.

The Bruins had four players reach double-digits including  fifth-year guard Charisma Osborne who led all scorers with 22 points. Sophomore center Lauren Betts finished with 20, sophomore guard Kiki Rice had 12 and senior forward Angela Dugalic had 11.

Betts and Dugalic recorded double-doubles with 13 rebounds each.

UCLA's game plan heading into the highly-anticipated matchup was to pound the ball inside and take care of the ball on offense. That is exactly what they did. The Bruins outscored Colorado 36-22 in the paint and only turned the ball over 14 times. In the loss against USC, UCLA had 22 turnovers.

Charisma Osborne was in control from the start with plays like the one below.

The second quarter was a different story, however, as the Bruins went on a scoring drought that lasted almost five minutes. Osborne's jumper before the buzzer snapped the scoreless streak and sent UCLA into the half down three.

Coming out of halftime, the Bruins continued feeding the ball inside to Betts. She made the most of her opportunities going 3-for-4 from the field with four rebounds in the third quarter.

Rice struggled to find the net through the first three quarters. She only had four points via one field goal and two free throws but found her rhythm in the fourth and poured it on with eight points. She was perfect from the field with one three-pointer and one free throw.

The Bruins have a couple of days off in Utah before tipping off against the No. 20/20 Utes on Monday.

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. Despite being raised in the South, her sports obsession has always been in Los Angeles. She is currently a staff writer for the LA Sports Report Network.