The Sports Report: Lauren Betts leads UCLA to the Sweet 16

Los Angeles Times

24-03-2025

Howdy, I'm your host, Houston Mitchell. Let's get right to the news.
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The crowd at Pauley Pavilion rose as one as the seconds ticked down. This second half deserved a standing ovation.
UCLA claimed an 84-67 win over No. 8-seed Richmond in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday, using an extended 23-2 run in the third quarter to blow open a close game and advance to a third consecutive Sweet 16. The tournament's No. 1 overall seed will face No. 5 Mississippi in the Regional 1 semifinal in Spokane, Wash., on Friday. Mississippi upset No. 4 Baylor 69-63 in the second round.
Lauren Betts had 30 points on 14-of-17 shooting with 14 rebounds in a performance so dominant that Lakers great Mychal Thompson posted on X that among UCLA centers, the new rankings are 1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 2. Bill Walton and 3. Betts.
'She's an absolute generational player,' coach Cori Close said.
As Betts handled double and triple teams down low, she got a boost from Kiki Rice on the perimeter, the point guard finishing with 23 points and seven assists. The junior has racked up 14 assists to just one turnover in two NCAA tournament games and hit a career-high four three-pointers Sunday to unlock a new level of UCLA's offense that could carry the Bruins to their first Final Four.
'I call her the 'Point God,'' Betts said. 'She's really, like, that girl.'
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UCLA box score
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From Ben Bolch: Mick Cronin wasn't going to go there, at least not at first.
A reporter who inquired about the UCLA coach's plans for next season was headed off like one of his guards trying to get the ball past Tennessee's press.
'Right now, guys, it's 12:40 a.m. and our season just ended,' Cronin said early Sunday inside Rupp Arena after a 67-58 loss to the Volunteers in the second round of the NCAA tournament. 'That's it. You're going to ask me about next year. Right now my biggest concern is how bad the seats are on the Allegiant flight, on that terrible plane that we're going on to fly home.'
Only moments later, after another reporter asked about the importance of continuity given his success with multi-year players, Cronin gave a clear indication of his intentions with his roster.
'If you're giving me a choice,' Cronin said, 'I'll always take talent.'
Translation: Expect the Bruins to be extremely active once the transfer portal opens Monday.
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From Ryan Kartje: Rayah Marshall took her place at the front of USC's defense Saturday, ready to deploy the role she'd spent the past two years perfecting.
USC had dragged through the first quarter of their first-round matchup, unable to separate from No. 16 North Carolina Greensboro. So a few minutes into the second, with her team in need of a spark, coach Lindsay Gottlieb turned to Marshall, the 'Mad Dog' at the front of the Trojans' vaunted pressure defense.
The press has become an essential part of USC's defense the past two seasons, with Marshall at the forefront — literally — of that success. But perhaps never has it proved so successful for the Trojans as it was Saturday, in their tournament debut.
The senior forward stood with arms outstretched, clogging whatever passing lanes might be available. As soon as the ball was inbounded, guards swarmed on either side. In a matter of seconds, a trap was already laid. From there, pockets were picked. Errant passes were picked off.
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From Anthony De Leon: What's ailing Mookie Betts remains a mystery — his inexplicable stomach illness has left him at a loss for words.
Down from 175 to 157 pounds, the usually joyful and cheerful Betts had a sullen look on his sunken face as he talked about his illness, which led to the Dodgers scratching him from the lineup ahead of Sunday's 7-1 Freeway Series exhibition win over the Angels.
'I just want to play,' Betts said softly by his locker. 'I'm tired of sitting, tired of just throwing up, tired of doing all this. I just really want to play.'
Betts was penciled in to start at shortstop, arriving at the ballpark with his symptoms subsiding. But just a few hours before first pitch, he was scratched after unexpectedly throwing up again.
'My body's just kind of eating itself,' he said. 'It's hard to not fuel it. And so every time — literally, every time — I fuel my body, I throw up. ... I don't know what to do.'
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Plaschke: If Dodgers want to be a dynasty, they must win the World Series again
'We're not guaranteed 3,000 at-bats.' What it's like to have a one-game MLB career
The Angels acquired right-handed starter Ian Anderson from the Atlanta Braves on Sunday in a trade for left-hander José Suárez.
Anderson had a 2.65 ERA and a whopping 18 walks over 17 innings this spring for the Braves, including four starts. He hasn't pitched in the majors since 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in early 2023, but he was fighting for a spot on Atlanta's roster this spring.
The 26-year-old was the third overall pick in the 2016 draft by Atlanta, and he is 22-13 with a 3.97 ERA over parts of three major league seasons. Anderson reached the big leagues in 2020 and won a World Series ring in 2021 after pitching in four postseason games, most notably throwing five hitless innings in Game 3 of the World Series against Houston.
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From Broderick Turner: Facing the NBA's top team and one of the league's elite players, the Clippers needed to be at their best Sunday if they were to extend their winning streak to six games.
But they failed to deliver in the final seconds against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, losing 103-101 in a tense battle at the Intuit Dome.
'A lot of turnovers. Even at the end of the fourth, we had two or three turnovers at the end,' Kawhi Leonard said. 'Yeah, we fought hard. We was in the game the whole game. Just calls could have gone either way. But salute to them. They've been the best team in the league.'
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Clippers box score
NBA scores
NBA standings
From Gary Klein: Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is looking forward to playing with three-time All-Pro receiver Davante Adams. He also is happy Cooper Kupp got a good deal with the Seattle Seahawks, and he will be rooting for his former teammate whenever they teams are not playing against each other.
Stafford made his comments Sunday after handing out awards at the Rams Football Academy Girls Flag Spring Classic and USA Football Talent identification camp.
The event drew hundreds of girls and boys at the Rams practice facility in Woodland Hills.
'I know these kids probably got a kick out of being on the field we practice on,' said Stafford, who attended the event with his wife Kelly and four daughters. 'Doing all that makes those dreams a little more tangible sometimes.'
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From Kevin Baxter: Mauricio Pochettino was supposed to be U.S. Soccer's savior. Instead, he may be presiding over the national team's demise.
With Pochettino watching from the sidelines, the national team stumbled through its second lifeless loss in four days Sunday, falling to Canada 2-1 in the third place game of the CONCACAF Nations League before a tiny, mostly quiet crowd at SoFi Stadium.
Canada's goals, one in each half, came from Tani Oluwaseyi and Jonathan David. The U.S. score came from Patrick Agyemang.
The U.S. will open its World Cup in the same stadium in less than 15 months, but on Sunday it played to a mostly vacant house. And the team's effort was as empty as the stadium.
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Quinton Byfield scored for the seventh straight home game, and the Kings beat the Boston Bruins 7-2 on Sunday night to set a franchise record with their 14th straight home game without a regulation loss.
Anze Kopitar, Warren Foegele, Andrei Kuzmenko, Drew Doughty, Tanner Jeannot and Samuel Helenius also scored, and the Kings have won six in a row on home ice. Darcy Kuemper made 11 saves as he improved to 13-0-1 in his past 14 home starts.
Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie scored, Jeremy Swayman made 16 saves, and the Bruins have dropped six straight as their postseason hopes continue to dwindle.
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Kings summary
NHL scores
NHL standings
Taylor Hall scored three goals in the third period for his sixth career hat trick, and the Carolina Hurricanes rebounded from their first loss in three weeks with a 5-2 victory over the Ducks on Sunday night.
Hall scored a power-play goal early in the third and added two more goals 49 seconds apart late in the period, putting his third into an empty net. The hat trick was the former No. 1 overall draft pick's second of the season, but also just his second since 2013.
Alex Killorn scored his 17th goal and Lukas Dostal stopped 32 shots for the Ducks, who opened a five-game homestand with their seventh loss in 10 games.
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Ducks summary
NHL scores
NHL standings
1936 — Detroit's Mud Bruneteau ends the longest game in NHL history with a goal after 116 minutes and 30 seconds (six overtimes) to edge the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the semifinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
1941 — Long Island University wins the NIT championship with a 56-42 victory over Ohio.
1945 — NYU battles back from a ten-point deficit with two minutes to go to send the NCAA Tournament national semifinal game into overtime. NYU wins 70-65. At the time, a team got one free throw when fouled near the end of the game, but could elect instead to inbound the ball. Ohio State is fouled three times, opts to shoot the foul shot and misses each time.
1956 — San Francisco's Bill Russell has 26 points and 27 rebounds to lead the Dons to an 83-71 win over Iowa and their second-straight national title and 55th consecutive victory, then an NCAA record.
1962 — Paul Hogue scores 22 points and grabs 19 rebounds and Tom Thacker adds 21 to lead Cincinnati to a 71-59 victory over Ohio State for its second NCAA basketball championship.
1970 — Jerry West of the Lakers wins his only NBA scoring title, accumulating 2,309 points in 74 games for a 31.2 ppg. average.
1973 — Kansas City-Omaha's Nate 'Tiny' Archibald becomes the first player in NBA history to lead the NBA in scoring (34.0 ppg.) and assists (11.4 apg.) in the same season.
1975 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Chuck Wepner in the 15th round to retain the world heavyweight title in Cleveland.
1975 — Princeton becomes the first Ivy League school to win the NIT title with an 80-69 win over Providence.
1979 — Indiana State, led by Larry Bird, advances to the NCAA Championship game by squeezing past DePaul 76-74. Bird has 35 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists.
1980 — Louisville beats UCLA 59-54 to win the NCAA basketball title.
1992 — Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux becomes the 36th player in NHL history with 1,000 points, getting an assist in the second period of the Penguins' 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
1994 — Kansas State's Askia Jones scores 62 points in 28 minutes in a 115-77 victory over Fresno State in the NIT quarterfinals. Jones shoots 18-for-25 from the floor, including 14-of-18 on three-pointers, and 12-for-16 from the line.
2013 — Florida Gulf Coast goes from shocking the men's college basketball world to downright impressing it. The Eagles beat San Diego State 81-71 to become the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
2017 — Devin Booker scores 70 points, becoming the sixth different player in NBA history to reach that total, but the Boston Celtics get 34 points from Isaiah Thomas and outlast the Phoenix Suns 130-120.
2018 — Nathan Chen completes six quadruple jumps in the free program to become the first U.S. winner of the men's world figure skating title since 2009.
2018 — 11th-seeded Loyola Chicago romps to a 78-62 victory over Kansas State to cap off a stunning run through the bracket-busting South Regional. The Ramblers (32-5) match the lowest-seeded team ever to reach the Final Four, joining LSU (1986), George Mason (2006) and VCU (2011). The South is the first regional in tournament history to have the top four seeds — including overall No. 1 Virginia — knocked out on the opening weekend.
Compiled by the Associated Press