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No. 4 UCLA wins Big 10 championship
USC Trojans guard Kennedy Smith (11) guards UCLA Bruins guard Kiki Rice (1) during the first half of a game Sunday, March 9, 2025, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No. 4 UCLA women storm back vs. No. 2 USC to win Big 10 championship

The old saying is that it's hard to beat a team three times in one season. That rang ever so true Sunday afternoon in the Big 10 championship game between the No. 4 UCLA Bruins and No. 2 USC Trojans.

USC led by 10 points at the half and it looked like they were going to beat UCLA for the third time this season.

That, however, was not the case as the Bruins stormed back and outscored the Trojans by 15 points in the second half to win 72-67 and secure a Big 10 championship in their first season in the conference.

UCLA lost just two games all season and both were to USC. It avenged those losses on the biggest stage and captured the conference championship.

Three-point shooting was huge for the Bruins, as they shot 8-of-15 (53.3%) from three.

Lauren Betts had an exceptional all-around game for the Bruins, scoring 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, four steals and four blocks. Betts had four of the five team blocks for UCLA.

Point guard Kiki Rice finished with 13 points and a game-high eight assists. Londynn Jones was also in double figures with 13 points.

JuJu Watkins was the story of the game in the two USC victories in the regular season and by those standards, she was shut down on Sunday.

Watkins scored 29 points but was extremely inefficient, shooting 9-of-28 from the field and 2-of-8 from three. Watkins also had a team-high four steals.

Kiki Iriafen was the only other player in double figures for USC with 10 points.

Both USC and UCLA are expected to earn No. 1 seeds come selection Sunday and seeing the two match up again in the Final Four would be delightful for college basketball fans.

Andrew Wright

Andrew "Dew" Wright graduated from Charleston Southern University with a degree in Communication Studies. He is a lifelong Chicago Cubs and Washington Commanders fan. 

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