UCLA Women's Basketball Beats Air Force in Second Round of WNIT

The Bruins are on their way to the round of 16 after taking care of business against the Falcons on their home court.

The Bruins have made the Sweet 16 their home over the past seven years.

While they technically aren't able to go to another one this March, they just clinched a spot in the next closest thing.

UCLA women's basketball (16-12, 8-8 Pac-12) picked up a wire-to-wire victory over Air Force (19-14, 11-7 Mountain West) in the second round of the WNIT on Sunday, winning 61-45. The win will move the Bruins on to the round of 16 – a far cry from the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in terms of prestige and spotlight, but still technically four wins away from a title.

Since 2016, UCLA has gone to four Sweet 16s. The last time they made one in a WNIT was in 2015, when they wound up winning the whole thing.

"We need to expect ourselves to be playing in championships, and right now, the opportunity's in the WNIT," said coach Cori Close. "Hopefully that's a mindset, that's a competitive spirit, that's a demand of excellence that carries over to hopefully winning this right now ... but also carrying over to the mindset of next year."

UCLA has now won five out of six dating back to the end of the regular season.

The Bruins and Falcons were locked in a physical, back-and-forth battle early on. Bodies were hitting the floor but no fouls were called for the opening five minutes, during which there were three lead changes. And right after UCLA went up by five, Air Force hit some free throws and a paint jumper to cut it back to one.

After going three-and-a-half minutes without scoring, the Bruins created a bit of separation to end the opening frame. Guard Charisma Osborne drove into the lane for a layup, forward Angela Dugalic went coast-to-coast to singlehandedly break the press on her own and guard Jaelynn Penn knocked down a transition 3 to make it 18-10 after one.

Forward IImar'I Thomas, who had opened the game with a 3-pointer, started to take over in the second, getting five quick shots to go from the block. Thomas' reemergence helped UCLA weather a 4-of-8 stretch from Air Force on the other end, and the Bruins would eventually go up by as many as 18 before the break.

Coming out of the half up 38-23, the Bruins immediately got a triple from Osborne and kept feeding Thomas in the post. It took a few minutes for UCLA's lead to reach 20, and although they couldn't preserve that for long, the Bruins would blow things up in the fourth.

The lead reached 23 after Dugalic hit a layup and Osborne hit two more. The gap wound up shrinking again as time ticked away, but garbage time did feature a 3-pointer by Dugalic, just her third of the season.

"It's really nice to know my team always has my back through ups and downs," Dugalic said in reference to her teammates' celebration following the play. "I'm not a big 3-point shooter, so they know when I make one, it's a big deal for me"

Thomas ended up leading the way with 17 points, while Osborne had 13 and Dugalic put up 11. Horvat and Penn combined for another 15, and seven Bruins scored over the course of the contest.

The Bruins hadn't had more than eight blocks in a game since the 2018-2019 season prior to the WNIT getting underway, but they had nine on Friday and 10 on Sunday. Those 10 blocks were tied for the most by UCLA since Nov. 11, 2016.

Close said she wasn't satisfied with that number, however, since the Bruins were unable to get defensive rebounds on most of the rejections and got caught jumping on pump fakes throughout the game going for more.

"Sometimes it leads, the next time, to you getting greedy and leaving your feet," Close said. "I love blocks when they're under control, when they're on balance and I love blocks that stay in bounds."

UCLA's next game will be against Wyoming, which beat Tulsa in triple overtime earlier Sunday. The game will be played in Laramie, Wyoming, at over 7,000 feet of elevation.

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