LOS ANGELES, CALIF. — The Fighting Illini Women’s Basketball team dug themselves into a hole with poor shooting on Thursday night. In the end, the UCLA Bruins beat Illinois 70 to 77 in front of their home crowd in Los Angeles.
UCLA’s junior center Lauren Betts led the Bruins to victory with 22 points and six blocks.
Takeaways
UCLA: UCLA showed why they are ranked as a top-five team in the NCAA. UCLA locked down any shots around the rim and disrupted any time Illinois tried to get back into the game.
Illinois: Illinois is going to have a long end to their season with dealing bigger players down low. Illinois committed 16 turnovers and multiple missed opportunities to put more points on the board. Illinois is feeling the effect of the injury bug and having a short guard rotation.
Key moment
Illinois was only down by three points early in the fourth quarter. That was short-lived, as UCLA stayed composed amid all the chaos and scored eight straight to clinch their 13th win in the Big Ten.
Key stat:
It was a block fest by UCLA. The Bruins rejected the Illini 10 times. Betts set the record for most blocks in program history for UCLA (67).
Up Next
Illinois look to end their final trip of the regular season on a positive note. They will go against No. 4 USC on Sunday afternoon at Galen Center, while UCLA will hit the road and face Iowa on Sunday afternoon.