Headlined by first and third quarter dominance, No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball picked up a 86-46 win over Rutgers (9-14, 1-11) at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night.
Kiki Rice led the Bruins (22-1, 12-0 Big Ten) with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Gabriela Jaquez got things started, scoring 10 of her 14 points in the first quarter.
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Rutgers, playing without its two leading scorers in Nene Ndiaye and Imani Lester, committed 18 turnovers that the Bruins converted into 25 points.
Coach Cori Close said Jaquez and Rice, alongside Charlisse Leger-Walker — who was second on the team behind Jaquez with 25 minutes played — established the energy she wanted from her team.
“She does a great job of that. Her one-on-one defense and defense in general is really great,” Jaquez said of Leger-Walker. “She’s just a really great defender. She really sets a tone on getting those [loose balls].”
During the Bruins’ first possession of the game, Rice stepped back from the three-point line, shooting an air ball. But she followed that miss with the Bruins’ next three scores from the field, all three coming off the break.
UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots while being guarded by Rutgers’ Kaylah Ivey Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion. (Caroline Brehman / Associated Press)
And while the Scarlet Knights got on the scoreboard first with a three-pointer, they missed five layups and committed five turnovers, with the Bruins taking advantage for 11 points in the quarter. The Scarlet Knights’ six first-quarter points were the fewest scored by a Bruins opponent in the first period this season.
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UCLA jumped to a 26-6 lead over the Scarlet Knights by the end of the first quarter, but it couldn’t extend that lead in the second, scoring just 14 points to Rutgers’ 13.
“The next piece of discipline that we need to grab is learning how to be more consistent,” Close said. “We haven’t proven against teams that are not in our caliber, from a talent perspective, that we can put 40 minutes of disciplined basketball together and play to our standards on a consistent basis.”
The Bruins also struggled to hold onto the ball in the second quarter, committing seven turnovers — although the Scarlet Knights scored just three points off the miscues. And while UCLA went three for eight on three pointers in the first period, it couldn’t bury one in the second off five attempts.
UCLA again struggled to separate itself from Rutgers during the fourth quarter, getting outscored 19-18.
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Close rotated players throughout the night, with eight Bruins playing more than 19 minutes apiece. The Bruins’ coach said she was working around players with different loads and trying to balance minutes out.
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“We mixed up the rotations a little bit,” Rice said. “It’s a long year, so we want to protect our bodies and everything. But I do think it’s always a great opportunity to play with different people, to work on actions together and how we play with each other. We need to be able to play with different lineups. There are going to be times where that’s going to happen throughout the year.”
With nine points, Sienna Betts had half of the Bruins points in the fourth quarter, bringing her game total to 11— marking the first time she’s matched her sister, Lauren, in scoring at UCLA. Rice said Sienna has looked more comfortable during the past few games.
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Meanwhile Lauren played just 13:38 minutes, her briefest appearance this season and fewest minutes in a game since 2023.
UCLA has six conference games remaining before the Big Ten tournament, with their next game at No. 8 Michigan at noon PST Sunday.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
