UCLA crushes Iowa to win second straight Big Ten tourney title

A lopsided first quarter put No. 2 UCLA on course to a 96-45 rout of No. 9 Iowa in Sunday's Big Ten Conference championship game in Indianapolis.

The top-seeded Bruins (31-1) cruised to a second consecutive Big Ten tournament title and a 25th consecutive win. They closed out a perfect campaign against Big Ten competition with their complete dominance on both ends of the floor.

Gianna Kneepkens led six UCLA players in double figures with 19 points, while Kiki Rice scored 15 and Sienna Betts had 14. Gabriela Jaquez (12), Charlisse Leger-Walker (11) and Lauren Betts (10) followed.

Thirty-four of UCLA's 40 made field goals came off assists. Rice's eight set the pace, Leger-Walker, Sienna Betts and Angela Dugalic each distributed five, and eight of the 10 Bruins who saw the floor doled out at least one assist.

Kneepkens shot 4-of-8 from 3-point range as well, helping UCLA to a 50% onslaught from deep. The Bruins went 13-of-26 from beyond the arc while limiting Iowa to just 5-of-23.

The second-seeded Hawkeyes (26-6) were led by Ava Heiden with 15 points and Addison Deal with 11. As a team they made just 12 of 38 shots from inside the arc.

UCLA's swarming defense also forced the Hawkeyes into 19 turnovers that the Bruins converted into 26 points.

UCLA successfully pushed the pace from both takeaways and rebounds, igniting runs of 13-0 and 9-0 during the first quarter. The Bruins kept up the frenetic pace in the second quarter, in one sequence scoring on back-to-back steals -- the first from Rice and the next from Lauren Betts -- that turned into immediate layups for Dugalic and Rice.

The dizzying barrage pushed the Bruins ahead by 19 points, then a pair of 3-pointers from Kneepkens and Leger-Walker extended the lead to 23 less than four minutes into the period. Leger-Walker knocked down three 3-pointers on the day.

Kneepkens scored 13 of her points in the second half as the Bruins didn't let up, winning the final 20 minutes 54-25.