SPOKANE, WA. – Fours up has a whole new meaning.
The gesture of throwing four fingers in the air has long represented UCLA. One for every letter in the school name. But on Sunday it meant more. It meant those four letters, the 13 players on the team and the six members of the coaching staff were one of the last teams standing. It means they’d finally achieved their long awaited goal. Fours up for the Final Four.
As coach Cori Close spoke into the microphone on national TV, her players scooped confetti off the floor, throwing it haphazardly onto her head. Her mother Patti, who always travels with Close, laughed and looked on.
Gabriela Jaquez hugged countless family members who made the journey to watch the L.A. native play. Her mom tried desperately to FaceTime her son, former UCLA player and current member of the Miami Heat, Jaime Jaquez, but the signal kept failing from all the network usage in the arena.
Lauren Betts made a call, holding her piece of the net in front of the phone screen. Assistant coach Shannon LeBeauf wiped tears from her face. Timea Gardiner, who hit five three-pointers in the 72-65 win over LSU, climbed the ladder and cut her piece of the net, turning to point to her father Andy. He pointed back, his bright white teeth bursting out of smiling cheeks.
This was the moment Close envisioned when she brought in Kiki Rice, Londynn Jones and Jaquez as freshmen. She pictured it when she got Betts out of the portal and Gardiner and Janiah Barker the following year.
It’s the moment Jaquez imagined as a little girl. One she thought she might not ever get. Jaquez was born a Bruin, but until late in her high school career, she wasn’t getting recruited by UCLA.
“I thought I might not get to go,” she said. “But when I set my mind to something, I make it happen.”
She set her mind on the Final Four.
With 1:30 left on the clock, Betts caught the ball in the paint, surveying the situation. LSU sent a double team and she kicked it out to Jaquez on the wing. With a defender quickly closing the gap, Jaquez added extra arc to her shot. The ball hung in the air for what felt like forever before dropping through the hoop and giving the Bruins a nine point lead. In the stands, her family became human high-five machines.
“I was jumping up and down celebrating,” her mom Angela said. “I felt like I was so high but I probably only jumped a centimeter. We were high-fiving everyone in the section and it was just so exciting.”
The shot, which sealed the victory, was UCLA’s 10th three-pointer. Four came from Jaquez, who finished with 18 points to lead the Bruins. All 15 of Gardiner’s points came on five threes. Gardiner is the only player on the UCLA roster to have played in a previous Elite Eight. Playing for Oregon State last season, she experienced a 70-58 loss to eventual national champion South Carolina. That’s one of the reasons Close knew Gardiner was ready to step up. Andy Gardiner knew it too, because as he says, Gardiner has always been a “dog.”
It felt like deja vu for Andy watching Gardiner line up shot after shot. She would catch a kick out, square her feet, fire and throw three fingers in the air. And every time she released the ball, her father had the same thought.
“It’s money every time,” he said with a smile.
This is why Gardiner transferred to UCLA. She knew her role would be smaller than what it was at Oregon State, but as soon as she hit the portal, her heart was set on being a Bruin.
“I knew I wanted to come here, and I think everyone else knew it too,” she said with a smile. “Who doesn’t want to play in a Final Four?”
There were moments on Sunday when UCLA cutting down the nets didn’t seem likely. On UCLA’s first possession, the Bruins passed it inside to Betts, who spun and scored with ease. On the LSU bench, coach Kim Mulkey threw a sequined elbow, imploring the officials to call an offensive foul. Later, when Betts was called for a push on a rebound attempt, the entire LSU bench stood up and cheered. They knew getting Betts in foul trouble could change the game. Then, with 57 seconds left in the first quarter, Mulkey got her wish. Betts was whistled for an offensive foul (her second) and forced to sit the second quarter.
What followed took LSU and the arena by surprise, but not the Bruins. All year, Betts has been the anchor, but they’ve been adamant that this team is deep. And in the second quarter, they showed it, outscoring LSU 22-12 to take a 31-25 lead into the half.
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“Betts did not beat us,” Mulkey said. “We guarded her as tough as we could guard her. We did not take advantage of Betts being off the floor in the second quarter and we allowed perimeter threes and other people to step up.”
While Mulkey said the game was decided in the second quarter, Close thought the key moment came much later.
A Jaquez three put UCLA up 14 with 6:40 left in the third quarter. Up until that point, LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson had struggled, scoring just four points in the first half. But she took over from there, scoring 24 points to pull LSU within three points, 56-53, with 3:24 left in the game.
All season long, UCLA has put an emphasis on the mental side of the game. Assistant coach Tasha Brown runs exercises they call “mind gym,” where the Bruins visualize success and define things like character and teamwork. Close is a believer that your brain is a muscle that needs reps like any other body part. When LSU went on its run, the Bruins leaned on the work they’d done in the mental weight room.
A minute later, with UCLA up four following a Betts free throw, a loose ball rolled toward the LSU bench. Kiki Rice dove on the floor, and it bounced out of bounds. After some discussion the officials ruled that it had last touched a Tiger. Then Jaquez made two free throws, followed by her dagger three-pointer. Rice made six free throws in the final minutes. Dugalic made two. Jaquez added two more. Little by little, the mental toughness and perseverance added up.
“I think the game was won in the poise and the choice to go back to neutral, get ourselves refocused, and make the next right step,” Close said.
Now they’re stepping onto a stage that hasn’t hosted a UCLA women’s basketball team in the NCAA era. Next stop: Fours up in Tampa, Fla., to play for a national championship.
