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Lauren Betts and Madison Booker respectively headline this Ultimate 4 battle between the Texas Longhorns and the UCLA Bruins.
Neighbors on final yr’s Ultimate 4 bracket, the Texas Longhorns and UCLA Bruins will lastly get to face off on ladies’s basketball’s grandest stage.
The latter half of Phoenix’s Ultimate 4 proceedings within the 2026 NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Event pits UCLA and Texas, the respective champions of the Sacramento 2 and Fort Value 3, in opposition to one another with potential nationwide title glory on the road. It is set to be an intense conflict of publish prowess, with Westwood’s Lauren Betts doing battle in opposition to Madison Booker from Austin.
Texas has adjusted properly to the SEC grind and, the truth is, took the latest convention match from fellow Ultimate 4 participant South Carolina in its sophomore tour earlier this postseason. The Longhorns are contemporary off a 77-41 thrashing of the Michigan Wolverines within the Elite Eight spherical, leaping out to an early, formidable benefit and by no means wanting again. Booker led the best way with 19 factors whereas Rori Harmon dished out 13 assists. On the opposite facet, Texas allowed Michigan to make simply 13 photographs, a part of a 23 % effort from the sector.
Ultimate 4 Preview: Texas Longhorns vs. UCLA Bruins
Looking for its second nationwide championship after its triumph in 1986, Texas has reached its fifth Ultimate 4 and its third over the past 5 years. Since taking down the Gamecocks within the SEC championship, Texas has handily dealt with Missouri State, Oregon, Kentucky, and Michigan on the large bracket, the closest sport in that span being a 22-point win over the Wildcats within the Candy 16.
UCLA has additionally adjusted properly to a brand new convention, clinching each the Large Ten common season and convention titles. It needed to stave off a problem in its personal Elite Eight displaying in California’s capital, downing Duke by a 70-58 ultimate. Betts overcame some early struggles to publish a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double whereas Angela Dugalić got here off the bench to supply 15 factors and 4 offensive rebounds. The eight-point halftime deficit was simply the second that the Bruins had confronted this season, however they saved Duke off the board for the ultimate six-plus minutes of the third interval to take lasting management.
March Insanity Protection: UConn vs. South Carolina Ultimate 4 Preview | Fort 1 Area Preview | Fort 3 Area Preview | Sacramento Area 2 Preview | Sacramento Area 4 Preview
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Can UCLA Win Its First Ring?
That is the Bruins’ second displaying within the Ultimate after making their maiden voyage final yr, and so they’re hoping to atone for an 85-51 defeat by the hands of the eventual champion UConn Huskies, who likewise returned to the nationwide semifinals. UCLA took care of its match enterprise earlier than Duke’s devilish scare, defeating Cal Baptist, Oklahoma State, and Minnesota by extensive margins within the debut trio.
This would be the sixteenth all-time assembly between Texas and UCLA and the second this season. The Bruins enter the Ultimate 4 fracas on a 29-game successful streak, and the one blemish that retains them out of the sisterhood of perfection with UConn is a 76-65 defeat to those very Longhorns through the Gamers Period Pageant in Las Vegas. Harmon broke free for 26 factors whereas Booker inched towards a triple-double with 16 factors, seven boards, and 5 helpers. Gianna Kneepkens and Kiki Rice had 17 every in defeat, accounting for simply over half of UCLA’s tallies.
Texas and UCLA have additionally squared off within the NCAA Event on 5 prior events, with the latter successful three so far. The latest get-together got here within the 2021 Candy 16, the place Celeste Taylor outdueled Michaela Onyenwere in entrance of a supportive San Antonio crowd to earn a 71-62 victory.
Who: (1) Texas Longhorns (35-3, 13-3 SEC) vs. (1) UCLA Bruins (35-1, 18-0 Large Ten)What: NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Event Nationwide Semifinal/Ultimate FourWhere: Mortgage Matchup Heart, Phoenix, AZWhen: Friday, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPNWager: TEX -1.5 (O/U 133.5)
Jordan Lee takes all of it the best way as 1-seed Texas holds an early lead on 2-seed Michigan 💨
Watch the Elite Eight now on ESPN and the ESPN App! pic.twitter.com/18APTDuSLL
— ESPN (@espn) March 30, 2026
Texas Longhorn to Watch: Jordan Lee
Texas clearly retains issues rolling with Booker and Harmon main the best way, however particular consideration ought to be devoted to the sophomore Jordan Lee. She was a non-factor offensively within the blowout win over Michigan, however she performed a robust half in limiting the Wolverines’ capturing on protection. Lee has a primary alternative to get open with the Bruins manning the inside with Betts and Gabriela Jaquez, and she or he has the proper facilitator in Harmon on her facet. She will be able to additionally arrange alternatives on the fastbreak, standing as one in all 5 Longhorns averaging at the very least a steal per sport.
Angela Dugalić Scoring Breakdown vs Duke – Elite 8: (PTS)
• Spot Up: 4• OREB (Putbacks): 7 💪🏼• Put up-Up: 4
– 15 factors on 55.8% TS- As much as 60.7% on Put up-Ups (1.069 PPP) this season- As much as 83.3% on OREBs (1.586 PPP) this season- GAME. CHANGER. 😤pic.twitter.com/DwlbHjKmLy
— Conrado Pascual (@CP3_777) March 29, 2026
UCLA Bruin to Watch: Angela Dugalić
UCLA dealt with itself pretty properly within the first go-around with the Longhorns, although Dugalić struggled to carry out off the bench because the one girl the Bruins inserted in reduction. The depth star has since recovered to be one of many high sixth-women within the nation, notably posting a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double within the Candy 16 win over Minnesota. Again in November, Dugalić was maybe nonetheless adjusting to her function after serving as a starter on final yr’s Ultimate 4 trek. Now totally entrenched in her function, Dugalić is a power to be reckoned with in all areas of the ground.
They Mentioned It
“I feel now we have a extremely good likelihood at successful [the whole thing]. You may look all the best way down our roster, and also you see someone who can present, someone who can are available and do one thing at any level, at any given second your identify is known as. I’ve religion that everyone on the bench can are available and supply. So, yeah, I feel now we have a extremely good likelihood.”—Texas ahead Justice Carlton (h/t Cedric Golden, Austin American-Statesman)
“I used to be mad and I simply didn’t perceive how that might occur. However, I imply, I feel for me it simply riles me up. It’s nothing, like, not getting mad at any particular person. It was a group loss. I feel, for me, it was simply, how can I be higher going into subsequent yr, and the way can I push this group so we are able to get there once more and have that chance.”—Betts on why she repeatedly watched final yr’s Ultimate 4 loss in opposition to UConn (h/t Ben Bolch, New York Put up)
Ultimate 4 Prediction
What Texas has completed underneath Vic Schaefer cannot be ignored, and that features a Thanksgiving feast earned in opposition to the Bruins in Las Vegas. However UCLA simply feels too deep and able to taking issues a bit too personally to let shortcomings in Sin Metropolis go unpunished. Behind the inside prowess of Betts and Kneepkins and Rice’s dealing with of enterprise on the high of the important thing, the Bruins bear down and power themselves into a possible rematch with the Huskies, one other little bit of unfinished enterprise that has haunted the Westwood basketball amenities.
UCLA 65, Texas 61
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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