The numbers continue to grow for the top-seeded UCLA Bruins.
Their 32 wins are probably the most in a season. Their 53-point victory over Cal Baptist within the opening spherical of March Madness was the most important postseason win in program historical past.
Now, they’re 26 ½-point favorites towards ninth-seeded Oklahoma State on Monday night time, in accordance to BetMGM Sportsbook.
“I did not know that,” Cowgirls guard Stailee Heard stated Sunday, “but that definitely adds fuel to the fire.”
The Cowgirls (24-9) are 0-2 at Pauley Pavilion, the place the crew performed in 2017 and 2018 as a part of a home-and-home sequence. The Bruins are 16-0 at house this season and have misplaced one sport general.
None of that bothers Heard’s backcourt mate, Haleigh Timmer.
“We wouldn’t be surprised if we won,” she stated. “Going in with that mindset just to attack the game and just believing in ourselves even if nobody else does.”
The winner advances to the Sweet 16 in Sacramento. The Cowgirls haven’t been that far since 2014. The Bruins reached the Final Four final 12 months.
UCLA had 5 gamers in double figures, together with three with double-doubles, in overpowering Cal Baptist 96-43 after a sluggish begin.
“They’re a bunch of pros,” Cowgirls coach Jacie Hoyt stated. “There’s a level of composure and poise that they play with. A separator for them is their intangibles. They just have a poise about them. The moment never seems too big. They never really seem to get rattled.”
A and B publish matchup
Achol Akot led the Cowgirls to an 82-68 win over eighth-seeded Princeton, with a career-high 28 factors on 12-of-15 capturing and 10 rebounds.
“I have so much confidence every time she has the ball that she’s either going to go up and finish it or kick it out,” Timmer stated. “Even on defense, us guards will lose our person, and she’ll cover that up. You might not see it on the stat sheet, but she does so much for our team. She just fills in the gaps.”
Akot is 6 inches shorter than Lauren Betts, UCLA’s 6-foot-7 AP All-America heart.
“Lauren Betts is not someone you can stop 1-on-1. You’ve got to have great help,” Hoyt stated. “You have to have great rotations. Got to box out and keep her off the glass, and I think that falls on everyone.”
UCLA’s March Madness rookie
Lauren Betts is wrapping up her faculty profession at UCLA after spending her freshman 12 months at Stanford. Her youthful sister, Sienna, is simply getting began in Westwood.
Sienna Betts had a double-double (10 factors and 12 rebounds) off the bench towards Cal Baptist. As Lauren Betts laughingly identified, a few of these rebounds had been from her sister’s personal misses.
“I’m still a perfectionist, so I’m looking at what I could have done better,” Sienna Betts stated. “I just want to be able to improve and learn from that game and take what I can into the next game to do better.”
Little sister is figuring issues out on and off the court docket.
“Switching onto these little fast guards because in college the 4 is like another guard, that’s something very new to me,” Sienna Betts stated.
Asked about potential issues the Cowgirls current, she began to reply after which hesitated, seemingly uncertain of what or how a lot she ought to say.
“Sorry, I never had a question about another team before,” Sienna Betts stated, laughing.
UCLA coach Cori Close feels invigorated by the youthful Betts’ humor and contemporary take on issues.
“She is so hard on herself and she’s so driven, I think her humor is actually a saving grace for her,” Close stated. “It’s sort of a breathe moment. It’s laughter. Because when she’s not smiling and bringing joy, she’s usually beating herself up for a mistake.”
Fashion ahead
Hoyt is preserving it within the Oklahoma State household when it comes to her March Madness vogue.
She wore black pants coated with orange sequined basketballs and the nickname Cowgirls in white for Saturday’s win over Princeton. Her orange prime was coated by a black jacket with Cowgirls spelled out in sequins throughout the again.
The pants had been the inspiration of Ellie Fallah, the spouse of Oklahoma State ahead Parsa Fallah, who’s from Iran.
“When I was in need of an outfit, I reached out to her and said, ‘Here’s what I have. What can you do with it?’” Hoyt stated. “She flipped those pants for me pretty quick, and she also made a shirt that I’ll be wearing tomorrow.”
Hoyt’s sister, Terran, is an assistant on her employees. She wore a shirt designed by Fallah on Saturday.
“I didn’t know she was going to do that,” Jacie Hoyt stated. “That was a little bit spicy, a little bit bold of her.”
