This post was updated March 23 at 10:38 p.m.
The duel was over before Pistol Pete could draw his weapon.
It didn’t help that he barely brought any bullets.
And couldn’t hit his mark.
There was not enough room for both programs in the Sweet Sixteen, so No. 1 seed UCLA (33-1, 18-0 Big Ten) sent No. 8 seed Oklahoma State (24-10, 12-6 Big 12) riding off into the sunset 87-68 Monday at Pauley Pavilion while punching its own ticket to Sacramento.
“The points, they really don’t mean anything to me,” said senior center Lauren Betts, who scored a career high 35 points in what was her last home game as a Bruin. “The fact that we won today and what matters most to me. … But of course, to do it with all of these fans here in this program and these girls, it means a lot.”
Though halftime seemed to resurrect the Cowgirls, their faster tempo still was not enough to overcome the drag of having one foot in the grave.
“Our defense had lapses where we couldn’t get stops, and we were just trading baskets,” said coach Cori Close. “That was actually a bigger concern. The second concern for me is how we couldn’t make adjustments to stop what they were doing.”
Oklahoma State limited UCLA to a 6-for-17 performance from the field in the third quarter after shooting 18-for-33 in the first half. And the Bruins’ perimeter shooting went from 6-for-10 across the first two quarters to a 1-for-5 showing in the third.
Meanwhile, the Cowgirls shot 9-for-16 in the second quarter and 9-for-17 in the third – and limited their third quarter turnovers to one after totaling nine in the first half.
But the Cowgirls’ second shot proved to be no silver bullet – the Bruins still led 64-47 after three frames.
“Games might get tight, teams might go on runs. It’s March – it’s going to happen,” Betts said. “What makes this team so special is we’re just a very mature group of people who just know how to get the job done.”
Betts did not make her first third-quarter field goal until just 3:50 remained, but the senior center still managed to finish the period with 11 points, making three of her five attempts.
“She (Betts) makes everyone better,” said graduate student guard Gianna Kneepkens. “Not just because of the basketball player she is but the leader she is. … When people are going to triple (team her), she’s not worried about, ‘Oh, can I get the points?’ She’s seeing who’s open so that we can score.”
The Cowgirls could never contain the 6-foot-7 center for long – not by lasso nor gunpowder.
The tallest Cowgirl to take the court Monday was forward Praise Egharevba at 6-foot-3, but she played just 14 minutes.’
Betts’ 35 points came off 78.9% shooting from the field – and she tossed in nine rebounds and five assists for good measure.
“My teammates did a really good job of finding me today,” Betts said. “Some of those passes were absolutely insane. The trust that they have to throw that up there and just know that I’m going to catch it – that’s just all the chemistry that we’ve been working on all season.”
From tipoff, Oklahoma State was just too slow on the draw.
It took 2:46 minutes before the Cowgirls got on the scoreboard in the first quarter, and it would take another 2:48 until they made their next basket from the field.
The Cowgirls’ six-point first quarter, a product of 2-for-16 shooting, ended in a 4:26 scoring drought that left them in a 15-point hole – one they could never quite dig themselves out of.
After UCLA shot 5-for-15 from deep against No. 16 seed California Baptist on Saturday, it got back to form against Oklahoma State – shooting 7-for-17.
Freshman guard Lena Bilic made both of her 3-point shots, and Kneepkens improved from her 1-for-5 perimeter shooting Saturday to a 3-for-6 showing Monday to tally 15 points on the night.
“I was walking down the hall with these two (Betts and Kneepkens), and I just said, ‘One year and three years – thankfully you chose us the second time around,’” Close said. “The commitment is still so deep, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Achol Akot scored 28 points against No. 9 seed Princeton on Friday, and once again led the Cowgirls with 23 – but the forward just could not be on the floor come high noon.
Akot earned her third personal foul with 8:31 in the third, her fourth with 8:32 in the fourth, and fouled out with 24 seconds left before the Cowgirls took their last breath.
Oklahoma State couldn’t conquer the West.
Next, UCLA will be tasked with defending Sacramento against the Midwest’s No. 4 seed Minnesota.
“It’s a weird feeling right now,” Close said following the team’s final game in Westwood this season. “We are so excited about having another 1-0 part of our season. Not really from a basketball perspective – these aren’t where the tears come from – it’s the way these seniors have affected our UCLA community.”
